Nine Worlds
by Surveyor of Cheese
Summary: All it took was one idiot to alienate Percy from Camp Half-blood. But what if there were other gods than the 'counterparts' of the Greeks? What would happen if Percy were to find Asgard? And what if THEY had a prophecy too - one that involved Percy...?
1. Chapter 1: Love Sucks

**AN: Hello peoplezezez! This here fanfiction is the first chapter (probably more of a prologue) of my Pertemis fic that may not actually work because I suck at planning the adventure part while putting in room for romancey lovey dovey stuff! This is based like the Romans and Greeks teamed up and stuff, but I haven't read any of the HoO books yet so I'm not going to try and put in any of those characters.**

**So, um, yeah, I hope you like this first chapter! Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJO! I wish I did but my initials aren't RR! They're MS :(**

_In the beginning there was the Word._

_And the Word begat Man_

_And Man begat Dream_

_And Dream begat the gods_

_After with you may find things getting_

_just a _tiny_ little bit more complicated… _- Lokabrenna

Chapter 1: Love Sucks

Two years since the death of Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes.

Two years since the sixteenth birthday of the Saviour of Olympus.

Two weeks since Percy had finally finished making a shroud fit for a Son of Hermes to burn in secret.

Two weeks since Percy had made an oath to himself to defend Luke's honour. He had been a traitor, but he had redeemed himself.

Two days since Annabeth Chase left, leaving only a hastily written note on Percy's windowsill.

Perseus Jackson once again picked up a crumpled piece of paper, flattening it out so he could read it, scanning it for a hidden joke or anything he may have missed. Reading it was a painstakingly slow process with his dyslexia, but he managed alright eventually.

_Dear Seaweed Brain_, it read.

_I'm sorry I couldn't give you any earlier warning, but Mum Iris messaged me about a job she'd managed to get for me in Germany, rebuilding old castles for tourists! Isn't that amazing?_

_I'm sorry Perce, but this is a two year contract; I don't think our relationship can take this strain. I think we should be open to new relationships, and who knows? Maybe we can go out again when I get back?_

_Wisegirl_

_PS: Happy birthday for two days, Perce! I'll miss you!_

'Perce', as he'd been dubbed by the letter, made a fist and returned the piece of paper to its previous crumpled state. He slipped the note into a small bag in his pocket, where he'd taken to keeping things that were important to him - the ashes of Luke's shroud were there, and so was his Minotaur horn and now the note.

Replacing the bag in his pocket, he sat back and watched the sunrise. He had already had a shower of sorts - nothing wakes a Son of Poseidon up like a dip in the sea.

Percy turned his thoughts back to the note. The two days since he'd seen it had done nothing to halt his heartbreak. As much as he hated the Aphrodite cabin, he'd asked them for advice (as indiscreetly as possible) for getting over heartbreak.

Apparently the best thing to do was to think about the person all the time until it didn't hurt anymore. It didn't work for Percy.

The conch horn finally blew and Percy got up from his seat. Time for breakfast.

Over the past two days many of Percy's friends had noticed that he was a little depressed. Usually at breakfast he'd give a friendly nod or a wave to the Stolls, and occasionally to Clarisse (on his good days). But recently all he'd do would be to sacrifice some cereal (Demeter had a chat with the cooks at Camp) and wolf down the rest, before going to the Arena. People would later find that they had very few dummies to train on.

All of Percy's friends had put two and two together and gotten four. Depressed Percy plus missing Annabeth equals a break up.

This day was a different day.

The conch horn blew again.

Monsters were coming to camp.

**AN: Dramatic musicage for that ending there. Oh noes, monsterzezez! So, you know, stay tuned for the next chapter! *coughcoughreviewcoughcough***

**Mandomness out.**


	2. Chapter 2: Capture the Flag

**AN: And here we have Chapter Two, already! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!**

**DISCLAIMER: You know the drill guys. I do not own PJO. Neither do I own _Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy_**

_And there shall come a Scarlet Horse… _- Apocalypse

Chapter 2: Capture the Flag

Percy changed his course towards Half-blood hill, drawing Riptide from his pocket. He could hear the clatter of people running out of their cabins, half dressed, grabbing the closest weapon they could find.

Percy was the only one ready for an attack.

He reached the crest of Half-blood hill and saw a boy, probable four or five years younger than him, desperately running up the hill with a bronze short sword in hand. He had black hair and cruel, dull green eyes. Behind him were two hellhounds and a Drakon.

The hellhounds would be easy enough – the Drakon might be a bit more of a challenge.

Percy ran down the hill, slashing one of the hellhounds in the chest on his way down with enough momentum to kill it instantly. The kid, now behind him, turned around just as Riptide was plunged into the skull of the other hellhound.

Percy ducked low under the swinging tail of the Drakon. He leapt into the air, landing on the tail as it returned to impale him. Riptide came down, embedding itself within the tail. The Drakon roared as Percy pulled out a small dagger. He slowly climbed up the flailing monster's back until he was directly on its head.

At this point, the kid intervened, holding his short sword in a terrible stance. Percy made a mental note to correct him in the Arena, before inwardly laughing to himself. Here he was, hanging on to the head of a now thrashing monster, and he was placing the instruction of a new kid as the priority thought in his head.

The aforementioned new kid came back down the hill, plunging his sword into the Drakon's leg. The Drakon roared, and just as some of the other campers crested Half-blood hill, Percy plunged Riptide into the gaping maw of the monster.

He fell through the expanding cloud of monster dust before somehow landing on his feet. On the ground, with all the dangers neutralised, Percy could take stock of the situation.

_New kid was alive._

_Percy had a few bruises on his legs and arms, but nothing life threatening._

_The new kid was claiming all the credit for killing the Drakon and the hellhounds – wait, what?_

"What the Hades? Why didn't you help the new kid, Percy? He could have died!" a camper (Percy suspected he was a Son of Ares), called out.

Apparently the Achilles Curse _was_ more of a curse than a blessing – he had no proof that he had fought at all.

Had you asked a Child of Athena, they would have told you that precisely three seconds after the Son of Ares had finished shouting, the new kid was claimed.

A trident wrapped in a sea green aura.** (AN: lol, I just have to put this in here – it was as subtle as a golden brick wrapped in a slice of lemon. **_**Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy**_** reference anyone?)**

_Styx, why do I get the stuck-up brat for a brother?_ Percy thought.

For the next few weeks, the Camp fawned over Tom (as the new kid was called). Percy usually slept at the beach these days. He only went to the Poseidon Cabin occasionally, and sometimes he'd see Poseidon himself there. He'd usually talk to Tom for a moment, before Tom would grab Poseidon's Trident and they would both disappear.

This went on until the Hunters arrived.

As usual with the arrival of the Hunters, there was to be the Capture the Flag match. Malcolm, who had taken over as Cabin Counsellor of the Athena Cabin, had the battle plan. It was totally new – something that had never been tried before. It was incredibly risky as well.

Usually in a Capture the Flag game with the Hunters, there would be a fairly small border patrol (usually the Aphrodite Cabin, most of the Minor God's kids and a small portion of the Hermes Cabin) at the river. It wouldn't be able to hold a determined force for very long, but hopefully it would be long enough.

A large diversion force would attack at the left flank (usually with the Ares Cabin and the Apollo Cabin), with a second, smaller one (usually most of the Athena kids and some Demeter kids). Meanwhile, runners (Hermes campers only, with few exceptions) would take the right flank, always apart so that a few might slip past the Hunter's net.

All the smaller cabins would be assigned to the place where they did best – Percy and Tom were always part of the border patrol on each flank, at the river.

Today however, Malcolm was going to try a new tactic – only three attackers, the rest hold the border. To Tom's protests, Percy (as the best swordsman) would lead the group, with Clarisse (as another good warrior) and Travis (in case Percy and Clarisse got pinned down – he should be able to slip past).

"You all know the rules," said Chiron. "The river marks the border, no killing or maiming. All magic items are allowed. To your stations!"

Percy, Clarisse and Travis ran to the right flank, where they would start their attack. Malcolm, from his position near the flag, gave a thumbs up. Percy slapped his wrist watch and his shield appeared. Riptide extended from its pen form not seconds later.

The conch horn blew.

A grin spread across Percy's face.

Percy set off at a slow jog, moving slowly in his light armour so that no sound would be made. He held his shield in a position where he could easily block incoming arrows. They made it fairly close to the flag before they were spotted, to Percy's surprise.

Arrows poured out of a tree off to the side, slamming hard into Percy's shield. The impact jarred his arm, but he ignored it. He heard Clarisse yell a battle cry before running off towards the tree. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Travis making his way towards the flag.

When Clarisse came close to the tree, Thalia jumped down, spear already in hand. Clarisse flinched for a moment when she saw Aegis and barely had enough time to block Thalia's swing. Percy was busy making his way over to the duel, as another Hunter was still in the tree slamming arrow after arrow into his shield.

Percy saw Travis go down in a pit trap. Dammit.

That small distraction nearly cost him more than he could afford – he barely jumped out of the way before Phoebe leapt down from the tree, swinging one of her daggers. She was very fast, but Percy was the most skilled warrior with a sword since… well, he had no idea. Phoebe made a feint at Percy's right side, but Percy didn't buy it and swung before she could make a real attack. CLANG! Dagger number one flew into the bushes.

It was times like these that Percy thanked his various disorders – his ADHD told him to dodge sideways as Thalia swung her spear at him. Apparently she had managed to take down Clarisse.

Percy didn't even blink when he saw Aegis, as he had seen it many times before. He swung his shield towards it, batting it aside, and slashed at Thalia's left. She blocked with her spear. She sent a small bolt of electricity at Percy, and he raised his sword. The sparks reflected off (to Percy's surprise) and hit Phoebe (who had been sneaking around the side to try and catch him off guard) between the eyes. She was knocked unconscious immediately. Using a well-placed feint, Thalia was forced to bring her shield up covering her face, which was when Percy slammed his shield into her unprotected stomach. Thalia gasped slightly before swinging her spear. It caught Percy in the ribs, probably cracking one, but Percy still managed to hit her temple lightly with Riptide's pommel, knocking her unconscious.

"Sorry Thals," he muttered, before pouring a bit of water from his flask onto his ribs. They healed almost immediately, but they were still a little sore.

He looked over and saw Clarisse lying unconscious on the ground. She would probably kill him when she found out he beat Phoebe and Thalia, and then left her there while he got a flag, but oh well. She had threatened to kill him before.

He set off at a walk, very wary for traps as he made his way over to the flag. On the way he pulled Travis out of his little problem (the pit trap), gaining a muttered thanks.

The pair walked over to the flag, looking out for any more guards, before Travis picked it up. Obviously Thalia and Phoebe were the only ones guarding it. With a final glance around the clearing, they set off towards the river.

Arriving at the border, they found that Camp Half-blood was in dire straits. Only a few defenders were duelling the Flag Bearer (who, when Percy looked closely, was in fact Artemis) and the guards. Malcolm went down to one of the guards, while Tom was knocked aside by the other. Travis sprinted towards the river with the flag, while Percy (who had used his water powers to get there first) fought Artemis.

Even encumbered by the flag, Artemis was fast. Percy could not see a single break in her defence as her dagger darted forth. Deciding to rely on speed more than anything else, Percy slammed the pommel of his sword against his shield, turning it back into a wristwatch. Trying to concentrate on two things at once was hard, but in only a few seconds Percy had a sword made of ice in his left hand. He could sense through the water that Travis had reached the river – he was almost across. Only a few seconds more and –

A blade was stabbed into the small of Percy's back.

**AN: Review, peoplezezez!**


	3. Chapter 3: Aftermath

**AN: Since you guys asked _so _nicely (except for tristanas1, that was a _little_ too much swearing, don't you think?) I decided to update again. Yes, I've had this chapter ready to go since I posted Chapter 1. So, enjoy!**

**Thanks you all you people that reviewed! And yeah, _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy _is awesome.**

**DISCLAIMER: You know the drill. I don't own this stuff. Heck, I don't even own Skyrim!**

_I speak of a mighty Ash that stands._

_Its name is Yggdrasil. – _Prophecy of the Seer

Chapter 3: Aftermath

When Percy awoke, he was lying in the infirmary. His open eyes stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, before a voice reverberated through his head.

_You drool in your sleep…_

He was lying in the same bed as where he had slept after killing the Minotaur. That was probably one of the first things he'd heard Anna- _her_ say.

"Ah, the brat's awake," said someone, probably Dionysus.

"You could at least call him Perry or Peter, Mr D. He did, after all, nearly win us the traditional Campers and Hunters match for the first time," said Chiron.

"What is it you youngsters say these days? Whatever? Well, whatever. Congratulations, Peter, on _nearly_ winning the Capture the Flag game. Goodbye, brat, I'm sure I'll see you around, as much as I hope not," Dionysus said, walking out the door when he finished.

"What did he mean, Chiron? I thought I'd bought Travis enough time to cross the river!" Percy said, sitting up when he found his chest healed.

"Travis took an arrow to the knee **(AN: If you don't get that reference, I swear I will FUS RO DAH you to death) **from one of the Hunters who wasn't unconscious or 'captive'. He couldn't swim across the river in time," Chiron explained.

_Damn,_ Percy thought. _I knew I should have frozen the surface of the water!_

"Who stabbed me? That blade was too long to be a hunting dagger," Percy asked.

"As observant as always, my boy. Tom stabbed you because he wanted to be the one to beat Artemis, although, I honestly think that if anyone short of one of the Olympians could fight her and win, it would be you," Chiron said.

Percy just nodded in thanks to the compliment. He got out of bed, threw on an orange 'Camp Half-blood' shirt and walked to the door. He needed to clear his head after finding out that his half-brother was even more of an idiot than he thought, as impossible as that sounds.

"Percy?" Chiron called. "You might want this." He wheeled over to a chest and took out a sword made of ice.

"It didn't melt?" Percy asked, taking the sword by the hilt.

"No. Don't ask me why," Chiron answered.

Percy inspected the sword thoroughly. It was perfectly balanced and the hilt fitted his hand, and there were only a few imperfections on the ice – a marking on the hilt that was just a horizontal line: |

There were four more along the blade. The first one was the same as the one on the hilt, followed by an angular 'R', then a wierd 'Z' with line going down on the gap on the right and another little line angling down and right at the top, and finally an arrow pointing upwards.

| R Z|\ /|\

All of the marks were glowing slightly, which Percy deemed strange, but he didn't question it. He was sure Chiron would just say something like. 'all will be revealed', or that he didn't know.

"I'm sure you have training to get to. Here," Chiron said, handing him a sheath, "I had some of the Hephaestus kids make this for your sword."

Percy nodded in thanks and sheathed the ice sword, hanging it from a belt loop in his jeans. Unlike what Chiron had suggested, he had no plans for training.

Tom hated him. Most of the camp followed Tom like sheep. Camp Half-blood didn't feel like the home it once was. When a place is no longer home, you leave.

_EPIC LINE BREAK!_

They all hate Tom. They all have their reasons, most of which are similar. He thought that his team would win just because they were _girls_. One of the newer members, Alex, kicked his arse in Capture the Flag, and yet he still boasted that he could beat them.

Artemis shares her Hunter's view on the matter of Tom. Hades, she even agrees with Dionysus on it – he's a brat, a little upstart with delusions that he's skilled and powerful.

His half-brother on the other hand had respect. He actually _was _skilled and powerful, but he didn't let it get to his head. If Artemis was to be perfectly honest with herself, she had actually enjoyed their little duel, not that it lasted very long, thanks to the previously mentioned brat.

Although she was not the one to put him in the infirmary, she was concerned about his recovery. It had only been coincidence that Tom had stabbed him in the right spot, but it didn't help with Artemis's hatred towards the upstart. Not many people got stabbed in their Achilles spot and lived to tell the tale – he probably only survived because he had (frozen) water in his hand at the time.

But when she reached the infirmary, no one was there. She guessed that he had probably recovered, but none of his friends had seen him (She'd had Thalia ask – it would have been a little strange if she'd done it herself). Chiron said that last he'd seen him was earlier that morning, when he gave him the ice sword (which apparently had become almost a legend among the Campers).

The Saviour of Olympus had disappeared.

_The Line Break of Awesomness_

The ocean is a very large place. Percy relied on this knowledge to swim across the sea to Europe without being found by Poseidon. He wanted to go to a land without monsters, without gods, without stupid half-brothers, without campers who acted like sheep. With the gods in America, Europe seemed to fit the bill. He originall planned on heading to Germany to find Annabeth, but he didn't speak German. However, Percy knew as a fact Englishmen generally spoke English for some unfathomable reason. English was fine with him, so that was where he was headed.

Something pulled at his leg.

An instant later the water around him chilled as his new sword was pulled from its sheath. A weird monster that looked kind of like a giant lobster rose beneath him, its pincers snapping at his legs.

_What the Hades? _he thought.

A quick slash at the monsters pincers took both of them right off, but blood spurted out just as Percy went in for the kill.

He screamed (underwater) as the acidic blood burned away at his left eye. He slashed blindly at where the monster should have been and the blood turned to monster dust. He didn't know if his eye was completely gone or if it was just blinded, but he couldn't see from his left eye.

_Gods dammit,_ he thought.

_Three Months Later_

He sighed at his image in the mirror. His eye was gone and the eye socket was empty but for another strange marking. It was kind of like a 'B', except far more angular.

It was like a scar, but not quite – it glowed a faint sea green.

Percy went outside and sat on the porch of his recently bought house (courtesy of the Lotus Casino card) and let his mind wander.

Peace and quiet.

A land without monsters, without gods, without stupid half-brothers, without campers who acted like sheep. A land that apparently had a golden toothed man walking down a rainbow that twisted around the massive ash tree in Percy's backyard.

That's Britannia for you.

**AN: FUS RO DAH! In yo face! Unfortunately, I haven't typed up chapter four yet and school's tomorrow (I live in Australia), so fitting an update in during the week might be difficult. But who knows? I'll try my hardest!**

**By the way, you have no idea how frustrating those damned 'scratches' are to type up, so sorry if it's hard to work out the vague shape of what they're meant to look like.**

**Smiley faces to whoever works out who the rainbow-treading gold-toothed random guy is!**

**REVIEW!**

**EDIT: So right now I'm kind of like, WTF, is screwing up all the scratches! I'll work out a way to make it work eventually *sigh*...**

**EDIT AGAIN: I've changed the way I'm describing the 'scratches', so maybe you can get a better picture of what I'm talking about. They were really screwed up before :/ sorry guys.**


	4. Chapter 4: Prophecies

**AN: I hope you guys appreciate that I took about three hours out of deisgnated HPE Assignment time to write this for you. Half smileys :| :| to Lightningkid333 - yes, it was a Norse God, but you didn't say it was Heimdall!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER - I don'town PJO! Sad face!**

_The Dead know everything, but they don't give a damn. _- Lokabrenna

Chapter 4: Prophecies

_What the Hades?_ Percy thought, for the umpteenth time. His ice sword (Icicle, as he'd come to call it) was inside the house – he only had Riptide.

Riptide had served him well in the past. It would now too.

He pulled the pen from his pocket. He didn't uncap it so as not to alarm the stranger, but it was comforting to have it at hand.

Rainbowfeet (as Percy had decided to nickname him) spotted him and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. He leapt off the rainbow bridge and drew his iron sword, walking slowly towards Percy. Percy had uncapped Riptide when the sword was drawn, causing Goldy (you can never have too many nicknames) to attack.

He knew exactly what he was doing as well – no easy-to-block overhead swings for him. A more subtle stab to the kidneys was apparently enough for most foes. But not for Percy. A quick sidestep and he was in position to thrust Riptide through Goldy's armour at least.

Rainbowfeet seemed to flick his fingers slightly and the sword that would have at least bruised him, if not gravely injured him, glanced off his armour harmlessly. Another quick flick and a dagger seemingly made of golden light appeared in his left hand.

Percy's surprise was so great that he was nearly stabbed by Goldy. Only a frantic back pedal saved him from being impaled. Percy countered quickly with a swing to the left – it was blocked by the sword merely centimetres from Rainbowfeet's skin. Rainbowfeet swung with his left hand, the light dagger making a shallow but painful cut along Percy's cheek. Damned Achilles' curse had cancelled itself when Tom had stabbed him.

Percy managed to wack Goldy's left hand with Riptide's hilt – the skein of light flickered out. Percy followed up with an overhead swing. Both blades locked together, and both warriors pushed against each other, striving for the upper hand.

That was when Goldy saw Percy's eye, or lack thereof. Percy blinked once when Goldy gasped. It was when Percy blinked, of course, that he realised that Goldy had not blinked once in their entire duel.

Both blades fell away, and Goldy sheathed his sword. Percy did so too, warily, and then Rainbowfeet made another little flick with his fingers, and Percy found he was unable to move.

"Who the Hel are you?" Goldy growled. What wonderful manners.

"Who the Hades are you? This is my house," Percy growled back.

"Damned real estate agents never listen to us, do they?" Goldy muttered. "I asked first," he said, louder. "Ah, never mind. By Mimir, how did you get that bloody rune in your eye?"

"Nasty giant lobster took my eye out. Don't know what that scar was doing there," Percy replied. In retrospect, the 'nasty giant lobster' didn't sound very threatening – it sounded like something out of a low budget horror movie.

Goldy just nodded. "Gotta take you up to the general then, kid. This could be bad for us, and we need as much of a warning as we can get. Come on," he said, grabbing Percy roughly by the arm and dragging him over to the rainbow.

"Move it kid, I don't have all day."

Percy sighed. Never a moment's peace. "Give me a moment; I need to get something," he said. He came back out of the house about a minute later with Icicle on his belt.

"Don't have all day kid, move it."

In his journey up the rainbow, Percy learnt very little about Goldy. He wasn't a very talkative person – he only made occasional comments about the average walking speed of people in the twenty-first century. All he found out was that he had his own 'rune' – a three pronged 'Y' on his right wrist.

So when they reached the top of the rainbow bridge, and Percy saw the massive wooden halls on the floating island (the centre of which had part of the ash tree sticking from it, where it continued to rise ever higher), Rainbowfeet only stopped once to tell Percy to 'move it'.

The walk along the road was rather lonely, despite the many other people using it. There were a bunch of teenage girls who seemed to leave trails of light where ever they walked. There were all manners of goblins, trolls, dwarves and people in assorted weapons and armour.

At the end of the road was perhaps the most grand hall of them all – a mighty wooden hall, thatched with golden shields and with ornate carvings of warriors fighting all manner of monsters. Above the doorway was a rune that Percy vaguely recognised – 'R', the same one from his sword.

Percy was shoved unceremoniously through the doorway. "Go through that door over there," said Goldy, pointing to two massive oak doors at the other end of the hall. "No lollygagging. I got duties to attend to."

Percy couldn't help but lollygag. The doors leading into the hall only lead to a small walkway above a battleground. Below him, people wearing light armour and wielding a mixture weapons made of both light and iron fought each other. In the distance, he could see two other platforms similar to his where long tables sat, with food and drink.

He wrenched himself away from the sight and walked his way over to the oak doors. He considered knocking for a moment, but didn't bother. The doors opened easily at his touch…

And he walked into a room rivalling the size of the battleground with a round table in the middle. Fourteen tall thrones surrounded it.

Suddenly, a door previously unnoticed by Percy behind a throne opened.

"What's so special about this kid, Heimdall? He's just an Einherjar," a man wearing a blue traveller's hat and a trench coat (a rather strange combination) asked.

Goldy, now identified as Heimdall, replied. "He has an eye missing, Odin. It shows Bjarkan, unbroken, unreversed. We should talk to him, and probably Mimir too."

Another man, with almost violently maroon hair and a crooked mouth, spoke. "Odin spent too much time trying to prove the prophecy wrong last time. Maybe if he hadn't let you Vanir chain me up-"

"And we'd be more than happy to chain you up again, Loki. Remember Jormungand? I'm sure he'd love to be inmates with you again," said a dark haired woman with icy blue eyes.

Loki shuddered. "You know I hate snakes, Skadi. Even for you, that was going a little over the top," he said, taking his seat.

A man with greying hair and sea green eyes said, "Shut up, both of you. If Heimdall is right, we can't be divided in the future. Besides, I want another shot at that damned blackbird."

A murmur of agreement went around, and then Heimdall said, "Ah, you're here. I trust you didn't spend _too_ long watching the fighting."

Percy shook his head. "Why am I here?"

"You're here because Heimdall doesn't think that you're dead," said Odin.

"Damn," a woman with blond hair and piercing green eyes muttered. "I had dibs."

Odin ignored her. "Let me see your face," he said, getting up and walking over. He took Percy's chin in his hands and examined his face. Percy noted that, under his hat, Odin too was missing an eye, but the rune in the eye socket was not a 'B', but an 'R'. Odin made a crooked circle with his thumb and first finger on his left hand, and peered at Percy through it. He gasped in shock and stumbled slightly. "You are… powerful. But this is not your full glam. Loki!" he called. "Get this kid to Mimir now." Odin knelt down and murmured, so only Percy could hear. "Don't tell anyone aside from us or someone you trust your name. Particularly Mimir – he's still a little sour over his head being cut off."

He got back up and walked back out the door. "I don't know why we _all_ needed to be here Heimdall!" he called over his shoulder.

The rest too left the room, except for Loki. "What did Odin tell you?" he asked.

"Told me not to tell anyone except for anyone who was just in this room or someone I trust my name," Percy said. "I'm Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon."

Loki's eyes widened. "You're a special case. You're still alive, _and _you're Greek."

"Roman too, apparently," Percy added. "And how do you know about the Greeks?"

Loki shrugged. "Roman too, whatever. Anyway, we're the Norse Gods," he said, very casually. "We move to wherever the Greek Gods have just left. They always leave quite a bit of chaos behind for us to clean up, you see. Not that they know we exist. Promise me that if you go back, you won't tell them."

Percy nodded.

"Whatever. Now, you arriving here with that rune of yours might mean nothing, but I've learnt to take everything as an omen of sorts, unless I examine it for a few hours and deem it otherwise," he explained leading Percy out of the hall. "So you being here probably means that we're moving to America sometime soon. I told them I had dibs on living in California when we found out that was where the Greeks were. But the difference between us moving this time and all the other times – well, except for our move to Greece after we left Iceland – is that Ragnarok is coming around again."

"Ragnarok?" Percy asked.

"End of the world. We were lucky to get out of Netherworld with our glams intact last time," he said.

Percy was silent for a few metres, before asking, "What did that blond goddess mean by 'I had dibs'?"

Loki looked at him appreciatively. "You got good ears, Perseus. Half the dead warriors that come to Asgard to help next time Ragnarok comes around go to Valhalla – that place we were at before – to train. The other half goes to Freyja's fields to train. She meant that when you died, you weren't going to be one of Odin's Einherjar."

"I prefer Percy over Perseus," said Percy.

Loki shrugged. "Ah, Mimir must like you. Usually takes me ages to get here by myself. We're here."

They were standing in front of a lake, the surface so smooth and clear Percy thought it was glass.

"So where's Mimir?" Percy asked.

Loki grinned. "His head got cut off a while back. He put his essence in this water after Odin brought him back from Hel. As the saying goes, 'The Dead know everything, but they don't give a damn'. Not true for the Einherjar, but true enough for our Oracle here."

_And I don't appreciate being called 'our Oracle', Dogstar. Who's your new friend? _a voice asked.

"Son of Poseidon, Mimir. Odin told him to come here, or more accurately, for me to bring him here," Loki said.

_He's a Greek? Only had three of those before him. Ah, I guess Odin wanted me to make his glam work._

"Glam?" Percy whispered to Loki.

"A magical strength bound to a person's rune. I'll tell you more later," Loki muttered.

Suddenly, Percy's eye socket shone out sea green light, and a rune being etched onto his arm did too. It was another rune Percy recognised from his sword: Z|\

_Two Fallen Heroes will rise from the Dead,_

_One shall be loathed, one to be respected._

_A new Script one arch shall be, an old Traitor the other,_

_The Son of Greece and Rome the Keystone must cover._

_At the End of the World, Asgard shall stand tall,_

_And the Wise and the Not so will have a final brawl._

"Gods…" Loki whispered. "Not another bloody prophecy."

**AN: I hope you guys enjoyed that! Now, I'm going to say this now - expect more updates in either five or six days. I have a major assessment week going on at school and I only wrote this because... well, you don't really need to know, do you. This time, instead of smiley faces, I'm going to give binary coded Jaffa Cakes to whoever guesses the 'Two Fallen Heroes' from the prophecy!**

**Mandomness out.**


	5. Chapter 5: Einherjar

**AN: You guys miss me? Well, as promised, a chapter. It'll probably be another week until the next chapter's up cause this week I have LOADS of assessment at school, but after that I have two weeks of holiday to type lots of story-goodness.**

**Oh, and binary coded Jaffa Cakes go to Mary! 100000 101011 1010101001 001010101011 10 (I made all that up)**

**Thanks to all of you that reviewed, now onto the story!**

**DISCLAIMER: Need I say it? PJO is not mine!**

_Valhalla, the Hall of Odin, built by the Nameless and stolen in trickery... - _Fabrications

Chapter 5: Einherjar

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to tell Odin about that prophecy," Loki said. "There's no way Odin is going to hand you over to Freyja when you have a glam like that. You're not actually an Aesir, but you wield the powers to beat most of us. Head back over to Valhalla and tell one of the Valkyries I sent you to meet Broken Thorn and Fallen Star. Codenames, sorry, I can't tell you without their permission."

"Valkyries?" Percy asked.

"Teenage girls that leave trails of light wherever they go," Loki explained. "Oh, and with that rune in your eye, best if you hide your face," he said, handing him a standard helmet he'd seen the Einherjars wear. "Put this on. We don't want everyone to know that the apocalypse is coming around again until we have a plan."

Percy nodded. During his walk he wondered who the two codenamed Einherjars were, but Chiron's voice reverberated through his head - 'All will be revealed.'

A short walk later and Percy was back in Valhalla, asking a random Valkyrie where 'Broken Thorn' and 'Fallen Star' were. He was only pointed towards Fallen Star - apparently Broken Thorn was talking to Tyr about the finer points of 'Mindsword' creation.

"Will you not leave me alone, Heracles? Don't you understand that after the first few centuries I stopped caring?" a strangely familiar voice shouted (in Greek) over the clang of blades.

_Heracles? If I'm not mistaken, that's-_

"What do you mean, Zoe? You know that we're friends, and this is what friends are for, right?" said Heracles, putting an arm around her, and getting a murderous glare in response.

"Leave her alone, Heracles." Percy said, walking up to him.

He turned away from Zoe, releasing her. "Ah, a new guy? Let's just have a duel to see how good you are," he said. He was too damned cocky for Percy's liking.

A simple nod and Percy drew his Ice Blade from its sheath. "Nice sword," said Heracles. Heracles pulled out a hairpin and it immediately extended into a sword knew far too well.

Written along the blade was a word in Greek – Anaklysmos.

Percy knew it better as Riptide.

"In that case, Heracles…" he murmured, just loud enough for him to hear. He replaced the Ice Sword in its sheath and pulled out a pen. The cap came off and an identical sword was in its place.

"Anaklysmos has a new wielder? Well, I hope you're worthy to carry the sword," Heracles said. Percy could see that Zoe's eyes had widened when he pulled out the pen. She knew who he was.

Percy beckoned slightly, showing that he was ready to fight. With a battle cry, Heracles swung Anaklysmos. Riptide came up and the two identical swords met. With a quick spin, Percy made a thrust at Heracles' stomach, but he was parried just in time and had to bring his sword to the left to block. A quick retreat to avoid having his stomach cut open and Percy leapt back into the fight. Metal clashed on metal as Percy strove to push Anaklysmos from Heracles' grip. Percy swung his left fist and it connected with Heracles' right elbow. Anaklysmos skidded across the floor and Percy brought Riptide up to Heracles' neck.

"Surrender?" Percy asked.

"Aye. You're a good swordsman. Haven't fought someone like you since my last duel with that Broken Thorn kid. Wouldn't mind knowing his name," said Heracles, somewhat more respecting now that he had been beaten. "Speaking of Thorn, I might go and spar with him. I need to practice for our… rematch."

Heracles picked up Anaklysmos and walked off, while Percy capped Riptide. "I haven't seen you in ages, Zoe. How in Hades did you get to Asgard?"

Zoe hugged him lightly. "Missed you too Percy. Oh, and, uh, apparently being put in the stars means that my soul is free game to Greeks and Norse alike."

Percy was a little taken aback. "Whoa, what happened to all the old English stuff with the 'thou' and 'thy' and 'thee'?" he asked.

She grimaced. "Odin got fed up with complaints about my 'archaic' way of speaking. Told Loki to put something in my drink, and now I have to actually have to try if I want to speak like I used to. So how the Hel did you die and end up here, Percy?"

"Still alive. Wanted to get away from the stupid campers and the gods, so I came to England. What a plan that turned out to be, huh?" he said.

Zoe grinned and was about to reply when a voice called. "I hear someone other than me has been beating Heracles. Duel, newbie?" he didn't say it in a cocky tone like Heracles, more like a friendly banter.

The Ice Blade slid from its sheath. "I'm going to enjoy this," Percy heard Zoe mutter.

"Bring it," Percy said, turning around.

A sword made of light, a 'Mindsword', appeared in the other guy's hand. His mouth, the only part Percy could see beneath the helmet, curled in a grin. Percy struck first, the ice seeming to leave behind a trail of frost. It made no sound when it connected with the Mindsword, but Percy felt the impact jar his hand. He was better than Heracles, striking back with the speed and the strength of a snake. Percy parried twice, three times, a fourth time, than struck back, the ice leaving a small scratch on the other man's arm. He followed up with a quick stab that he knew would be easily parried. It was, and Percy defended again, only striking back occasionally.

He was getting a feel for this guy's style quickly, almost like he was relearning it. He relied on this knowledge to lock blades just at the right moment. He had only one window of opportunity, and he took it.

The first disarming technique he had ever learnt was quite a difficult one, and very few people knew how to pull it off, let alone defend against it. Both swords moved at the same time – the Ice Sword skidded along the ground and the Mindsword flickered out.

"There's only one person I know who can do that aside from me," Percy said.

Luke grinned. "Missed you too Percy." They both pulled off their helmets.

"Why the Hades aren't you in Elysium, Luke?" Percy asked as they clasped hands.

"You may have managed to get the Olympians to respect me, if not honour me, but Hades didn't get me into Elysium because Annabeth's knife was cursed. It cursed my soul to wander forever, never to rest. Fortunately for me, being an Einherjar doesn't count as rest – I get to fight people all day, which is far better than spending all my time on my rear end in Elysium, and apparently the 'wander forever' part is just a bunch of poetic garbage," Luke explained.

Percy nodded. "You might want this," he said. He pulled a small bag out of his pocket and handed Luke a small wooden box. "These are the ashes of your shroud."

Luke looked surprised. "I had a shroud?"

"You would have had one sooner if I didn't blow up the textiles building at Yancy's before I took any lessons," Percy grinned. Luke cracked a smile as well, and opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted.

"Sorry to break up the reunion, but how the Hel did you lose your eye, Percy?" Zoe asked.

Percy grimaced. "Got attacked by a nasty giant lobster monster on the way over from America. Took me by surprise."

Luke's smile grew wider. "Perseus Jackson, the Saviour of Olympus, Indirect Defeater of Kronos, Slayer of Odin-knows-how-many famous monsters, lost an eye to a giant _lobster_?" he said sarcastically.

"Just shut it, Luke. Its blood was acidic," Percy mumbled, to the amusement of his friends.

Luke took the hint.

"Anyway, Loki sent me to find you guys. I guess he wanted me to train," Percy said.

"Not just train with swords," Luke replied. "You got to learn to use that glam of yours."

"This one?" Percy asked, baring the rune on his arm.

Eyes widened yet again. "Never heard of someone with more than one rune. Maybe _Bjarkan_ was a sign with no real power, and this one symbolises your true power. It's damned powerful too," Luke said.

"_Bjarkan_?" Percy asked.

"The rune in your eye. Rune of vision, sight and prophecies," Zoe explained.

"What's this rune then?" Percy asked, referring to his arm.

Luke examined it. "Looks like _Sol_ reversed, which probably means the moon, combined with _Tyr_, the war rune and _Logr, _water. I guess that _Sol_ reversed and _Logr_ could be interpreted as the tides, seeing as the moon is the cause of them. _Tyr_ is probably interpreted separately to those two…" he said, analysing the symbol.

After a short pause, Percy asked, "How do runes work?"

"Anyone can draw a rune on something. It's the spark of glam that sets the rune to work, imbuing it with power. Since you have glam now, and a damned powerful one too, I suppose you'll catch on quickly. There are also _cantrips_, kind of like the spells in those Harry Potter movies. You speak the cantrip and something happens," Luke explained.

"How descriptive," Percy muttered sarcastically.

Luke continued, pretending not to hear. "Rune's can also be used by casting their shadows with your fingers, like this," he said. He moved his fingers slightly, and then they flicked – a small flame rested in his palm.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Cool."

"The strength of someone's glam is determined by their will and their rune – your rune is probably the equivelant of an average bastard rune," Zoe said. "My rune," she continued, baring a rune on her left shoulder similar to Percy's with the 'Z', but with a line going through it and three prongs at the top. The rightmost prong was slightly separated from the other two. "is a combination of a broken form of _Madr_, the folk and the middle worlds and _Sol _reversed, the moon. Fairly powerful, but no match for Luke's."

Luke, who had been playing with his little fireball, bent down and pulled his sock down slightly, revealing an angular rune similar to the letter 'P'. "A broken form of the rune _Thuris_, the thorny one," he said.

"I'll teach you how to use your glam later," Luke said. "But we're Einherjar, let's go find someone to fight."

The trio grinned evilly. Life on Asgard was pretty good.

**AN: You know the drill. Review! Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, just because I got Zoe involved doesn't mean it's going to be Percy x Zoe. I'm far too much of a Pertemis fan for that. Heracles might become a minor character later on in the story, not sure yet.**

**REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6: Dam Obvious

**AN: So here I am at around about 11:20 on a school night with some serious assessment tomorrow, typing this filler chapter up for you guys. I hope you all feel REAL special. After this chapter, things should get interesting - Artemis should be reentering the main plot for a while fairly soon! Happy faces! Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: You know the drill.**

_The Einherjar, the Fallen Warriors of Odin, prepare day and night for Tribulation... _– Apocalypse

Chapter 6: Dam Obvious

Thalia growled in frustration. Nowhere could Percy be found. He'd simply disappeared off the face of the earth, leaving a bunch of teenage girls to search for him instead of beating some monsters up. It was a bit of a large-scale Hide and Seek game crossed with a wild goose chase in her opinion, and she didn't like that combination.

No monster had evaded the Hunt for long. A Seaweed Brain wouldn't either.

_Line break just because I CAN!_

Percy's schedule was rather packed in the early days. Zoe would teach him runes, cantrips, combinations and theories tab out glam in the morning. He would train with Luke in the afternoons, duelling back and forth across the arena. He had actually become something of a legend there, as very few could stand against 'Broken Thorn' for very long.

Percy had eventually realised that Zoe and Luke's friendship was strained at best. They only knew each other by reputation before Percy arrived. During one of his lessons, in fact, Percy had found that Zoe had never fully forgiven Luke for indirectly causing his death.

As months passed, Percy had little need for lessons on runes. He could only learn so much from theory, the rest was up to trial and error. So his entire day was spent in the arena, doing what Luke would often call (with a laugh) 'pwning some n00bs'.

CLANG! Riptide clashed against Anaklysmos. A rematch that had been greatly anticipated by the Einherjar began. Percy's two friends stood apart from each other with a generous gap on the sidelines.

CLACK! Heracles was pushed back a step. A quick follow up had Percy drawing first blood - a shallow cut across Heracles' arm. Percy leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding a counterattack.

THUD! Riptide clashed with a Minddagger formed from the rune Tyr in Heracles' left hand as Percy ducked beneath Anaklysmos.

CRACK! Percy's left hand formed the rune Yr the protector as he tried to strangle Tyr. A quick change of fingers to Ur, the mighty ox, and Tyr shattered.

CLING! Riptide and Anaklysmos were brought together once, twice, three times more.

THUCK! Sol burned as a fiery brand in Percy's left hand as it was hurled inaccurately at Heracles'.

And so it went. Attack, parry, riposte, block, chuck some glam at him...

They were both slowly tiring, Percy could tell. Heracles' inferior glam had long since dried up, and Percy was down to a few cantrips. But a few cantrips could be enough...

Something he'd been doing all his life was improvising. It was how he'd beaten the Minotaur, among other monsters...

His left hand formed Bjarkan. A Mindsword appeared in his hand. He swung, and Heracles' swung too, trying to block the light.

Anaklysmos passed through the illusion harmlessly, over balancing Heracles'. He straightened, even as his sword was knocked away and Riptide was brought to his throat. Blood dribbled down his face from a small wound on his forehead, and he felt ready to collapse with the use of so much glam, but he'd kicked Heracles' ass. Again.

'Que happy faces', as Loki would say.

Heracles looked enraged, but he bottled it up with no small effort and stalked off, his face dark. Zoe had a huge grin on her face as she walked over to Percy. "Nice job," she said.

"Yeah, that was some good swordsmanship," Luke said. Since Percy was more aware, he picked up the small glare of annoyance from Zoe. The glare that clearly said, 'Thank you for stating the dam obvious'. "Nice trick at the end there, he obviously wasn't watching what rune you used."

Zoe snorted. "Like you could do any better."

He shrugged. "Maybe I could."

Zoe opened her mouth to respond, but Loki arrived and interrupted her. "Not sure when I became the bloody messenger, but Odin wants to see you three Greeks in the main hall. Now."

They looked at each other and shrugged.

_Line break of the Awesomness that is not possessed by Me_

"Greeks are here, bro, now can I go or do we need the entire council?" Loki said casually to Odin.

Percy could hear Odin's teeth grinding from across the room. "Obviously, brother, the rest of the council is here, so I _hope_ it won't be too much effort for you to stay," he said, voice nearly dripping with sarcasm.

Loki's crooked lips formed their signature crooked smile. "Sure thing bro," he said, walking over to his seat.

That of course, was when Odin's words finally sunk into Percy's brain. The council was there - Odin, Frigg, Tyr, Sif, Thor, Loki, Njord, Skadi, Frey, Freyja, Idun, Bragi, Heimdall and a single empty chair.

That chair belonged to Baldr, who had died of a shaft of mistletoe through his heart. Set up by Loki, of course.

"Why have you summoned us?" Luke asked.

"Because Perseus never died. Since he really should go back eventually - although of course he'd be summoned back when Ragnarok approaches - we've decided to send you two back as well. Companions of sorts," Odin said. "Which is probably why we need Hel here to release you. I thought I told you to fetch your daughter as well as the Greeks, Loki!" he said.

"Gah, I'm not a messenger boy Odin and it's a long road to Hel! Give me a break!" Loki said.

"Well-"

"Aren't you guys lucky I can teleport?" someone said from behind Percy, cutting Odin off. He turned and saw a woman who was a skeleton on one side and living on the other. It was a thoroughly disturbing image.

Loki scowled. "A bloody unfair advantage you have, Hel. How's Golden Boy doing, by the way?" he said.

Almost the entire room glared at him. Baldr was still a bit of a sore subject.

"What did I say?" Loki feigned innocence.

Odin rolled his eyes discreetly. "Hel, we need you to release the souls of those two Greeks."

Hel laughed for a moment like it was her own private joke. "They're your Einherjar!" she laughed. "Their souls are yours to command, you don't need me to let them back into Midgárd!" She disappeared again.

Loki turned to his brother. "I knew that. It's why I didn't fetch my daughter personally!"

"Just shut it Loki," Skadi growled, Tyr already forming in her fingers. "I'm sure Jormungand misses you down in Netherworld."

"Hey! You didn't have to go that far to convince Surt I was on his side! Just chucking me in next to Ellie would have worked!" Loki protested.

Thor shuddered visibly. "Ugh, comfy mattresses... Worst nightmare." **(AN: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!)**

"Each to his own," Loki said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Shut up, all of you," Odin said, finally bringing the conversation to a close. "You Greeks can head back to the Olympians, wherever they are, but remember - when Ragnarok approaches we will contact you."

Freyja looked up from her quiet conversation with Bragi. "He can't go yet!" she squealed. Of course, just as though having the Greek Goddess of Love screwing with your life wasn't enough, the Norse one got involved.

POP! _What the Hel? _ he thought.

"It's feather cloak v.6.04! Now you just get the wings without having to change into the bird!" she said.

While Percy had a long nurtured hatred for Love Goddesses, it was probably a good idea to thank one who gave you wings. "Thank you," he said.

"Hey, why don't we get wings?" Luke called.

Freyja frowned. "Perseus is way hotter and you guys are dead!"

Percy stored that new info in his brain - he wasn't planning on following up on Freyja's thoughts, but it would be fun to annoy Luke.

Luke frowned for a moment, thinking, then his face lit up. "Hey, I still have a pair of those old winged shoes! Ha! Can't get away from me, can you Percy?"

Percy let his wings slide out of his back. "You so sure, Castellan?" he said.

Zoe shook her head. "Boys," she muttered.

"Just get outta here!" Odin roared, exasperated.

The Greeks wisely did as they were told.

**AN: I bet all you guys want a Feather Cloak v.6.04! But you can't have one! Cause NONE of you are as hot as Percy (Jokes guys, I'm not a creepy chick who 'likes' a character from a book, cause that's crazy. I'm a boy anyway, and I'm straight).**


	7. Chapter 7: Revelations and Barrel Rolls

**AN: I'm gettign around to editting this chapter! Shoutout to denis for pointing out the lack of reaction-y stuff, this is to fix that. Although I think it was more a lack of reaction to Percy's missing eye than two people coming back from the dead. I mean, most of the gods tried to kill Luke! HOW IS THAT NOT A REACTION!**

**This *should* fix up that lack of reaction to the missing eye, and I've even managed to attach Percy's way of escaping questions with another plot element (Big hint here, refer to chapter 8 for some more of that hint!)**

** And denis, also thanks for understanding my slow(ish) updates. I appreciate it. Now, edity edity edity...**

**DISCLAIMER: Blah blah blah you guys already know!**

Chapter 7: Revelations and Barrel Rolls

Travelling by air when there's one person who doesn't have wings is awkward at best. Luke grudgingly let Zoe use his shoes, seeing as the general awkwardness level if Percy had been carrying Zoe would have been… well, incredibly uncomfortable, to say the least.

Instead, Percy had to hook his arms under Luke's shoulders so he could carry him all the way across the Atlantic with only very brief stops on islands. It wasn't very comfortable for either of them, but the shoes could only hold one person, and Percy didn't really want to carry Zoe, cause that would have sent the awkwardness metre skyrocketing.

Zoe on the other hand, in Luke's shoes, was enjoying her flight immensely, and would occasionally do a loop or a barrel-roll **(AN: DO A BARREL ROLL!) **just to piss off the uncomfortable boys.

Eventually of course, they made it to the mainland, where Percy nearly collapsed, stretching his stiff arms as well as he could. Luke ploughed an ungraceful trench in the earth upon landing. Zoe too was feeling a little bit stiff and sore, but still landed with somewhat more grace than the Son of Hermes before proceeding to stretch.

Percy turned around and walked over to the nearby shore, where he promptly threw himself in the water. He came back out seconds later, looking like his trip over the sea had merely been a morning stroll.

"Bleugh blah," Luke said through a mouthful of dirt.

"I'm sorry? I didn't quite catch that," Zoe said with a grin.

Luke lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of soil. "No fair," he repeated. "I want my shoes back," he said his voice muffled slightly by the hood he was wearing.

Zoe sighed and took the sneakers off, tossing them at just an angle where they bounced off Luke's head, sending it back to earth. "Fank beu," he said, which Percy correctly deduced to mean, "Thank you." Obviously, it was said without a single hint of sarcasm.

Zoe shook her head and walked over to the spot where she had dropped her bag upon landing, rummaging through it in search of her own shoes. Percy flapped up into the air, where he made a quick sweep for nearby monsters. Luke ate some more dirt.

"Area's safe, but we should get outta here tomorrow. We'll attract a lot of monsters," Percy said.

"Bwah," said Luke, apparently not wanting to take the effort to raise his head.

"Sorry Luke, can you say that again?" Percy said.

"Bwah!" he repeated.

"I think he said food," Zoe said. Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't sound like food to me," he said.

"Well, if you were talking through a mouthful of dirt, it'd sound like that," Zoe said.

"Bleah," said Luke.

Percy gave Zoe a questioning glance. "And what, good translator, might _that_ mean?"

"Hmmm… maybe he was agreeing with me."

"Bleah."

_Line Break of Dirt!_

"Rise and shine, Luke! We've gotta get to Manhattan, or something. Not really sure where we're going, actually. Where are we going?" Percy said, tapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Blaeighy," Luke said. Apparently he hadn't bothered moving from that position before sleeping.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Percy asked.

Luke finally raised his head. "It means, 'go away, the sun isn't up yet.'"

"Ah, universal term. Not sure how I didn't recognise it, considering my repeated use," Percy grinned.

"For your information, Luke, the sun _is_ up, so you should be too. We've got to get moving, and I think Manhattan is as good a place as any. We should head to Camp Half-blood, maybe wait outside while Percy goes in alone and gets supplies, then we should-"

"Hold it Zoe, you missed the part where we eat breakfast," Luke said, getting up. Several cracks were heard as he stretched.

"Percy said that monsters were coming in this general direction. No time, get your ass moving," she said.

"Ok, ok, I don't want to be here when nasty things turn up, let's get moving," he said. "Good thing we didn't bother setting up tents or anything."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Let's go," he said.

He turned and spread his wings. "Give me a shout if something tries to kill you," he said, taking off.

Almost immediately after he took off an arrow nearly pierced his wing. He did a barrel-roll **(AN: DO A BARREL ROLL!) **and grabbed Riptide as he came back down to earth. He landed next to his companions, both of whom had weapons at the ready. Luke and Zoe had flipped their hoods so that they wouldn't be recognised.

"Show yourself!" Percy called. Instead of his usual shield, he had _Yr _ready at his fingertips.

"Percy?" Thalia asked, walking out from around a nearby tree. "Gods, I thought you were a monster!"

Around a dozen other hunters revealed themselves from the nearby shrubbery. Percy capped Riptide and replaced it in his pocket, but kept _Tyr_ ready in case he needed a Mindsword in hand.

"A merry little goose chase you led us on, Kelp Head. We've been tracking you across all of America!" Thalia said.

Percy inwardly cursed at his bad luck as he realised it would only be a matter of time before she saw his eye, or lack thereof. He quickly cast _Bjarkan_ at himself, muttering a small cantrip and hoping to Olympians, Aesir and Vanir that it would make an illusion. He almost staggered - for some reason it took more of his glam then it should have.

Thalia narrowed her eyes at him. "What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" Percy said.

"That flash..." she trailed off.

"I've got no idea what the Hel you're talking about," Percy said, but once again cursed at his slip up. No need to spread word of Asgard around America.

The Hunters turned towards a small scuttle in the bushes, although a few continued to watch the conversation. Arrows from all directions sprouted inside the bush and a cloud of monster dust came up. Percy's luck finally perked up - it drew attention away from the somewhat Asgard-related conversation.

Thalia, who was one of the ones who shot at the monster, turned back. "Damned Monsters," she muttered. "Anyway, who are your friends?"

Percy nodded to Zoe, and she flipped her hood off. Many of the older Hunters gasped. "Zoe!"

Artemis was the first to greet her friend, jumping down out of a tree from which she had been watching the entire conversation. She gave Zoe a very un-god like hug, and then stepped back. "How the Hades did you get back here?" she asked, as the pair began a long catch-up chat.

Thalia gave Zoe a friendly nod, before turning to Percy. "Other friend?" she asked.

Percy looked at Luke. He could see the corners of his mouth turned slightly upwards in a smile under the hood. "C'mon Thals, you don't recognise me?" he asked, flipping his hood off.

Instantly the Hunters drew the strings on their bows. Thalia was in a state of pure shock. "He's a friend," Percy snarled, _Yr_ forming in his left hand and _Tyr_ in his right. Just in case.

Artemis herself whirled around at the sound of bowstrings being drawn, dagger in hand. Her eyes widened when she saw Luke and she threw a blade at him. Percy flicked the fingers of his left hand and _Yr_ shot out, colliding with the dagger and smashing it into a million pieces. He smacked his wristwatch and his old shield was in place, ready to block as many arrows as it had to. Luke pulled a shield seemingly out of nowhere and did the same.

"Luke!" Thalia shouted, apparently regaining her senses and running forwards and tackling him in a bear hug. "You'd better not turn traitor on us again, old buddy," she whispered to him.

The Hunters, not wishing to hit their lieutenant, released the tension on their bow strings. Percy, satisfied, allowed his shield to revert to wristwatch form.

"I don't plan on it, Thals," Luke muttered back.

Thalia smiled slightly. "He's a friend," she announced, "stand down."

The Hunters reluctantly slung their bows on their backs. They obviously still didn't trust Luke.

"I don't know how you're alive, Castellan," Artemis growled. "But since my Lieutenant says you're not against us, I won't kill you. Yet."

Luke didn't trust himself to respond. Hey, you can't blame him, for a boy, even talking to Artemis could have bad consequences.

"You three," Artemis said, "need to get to Olympus. Now. Hunters, stay back and deal with the monsters. I'll be back in a moment." She walked over and tapped Luke on the shoulder. He disappeared. Then she tapped Zoe, then Percy.

_Line break of Lack of Hunter-monster-slaying-pwnage!_

Percy reappeared on a familiar road on Olympus, near the doors to the throne room. He gave a glance to his allies, and then Artemis arrived. "Go in," she muttered, before disappearing again, probably to take her seat.

Percy, Luke and Zoe obliged, with Percy leading them in. Luke's entrance started an uproar – Percy threw _Yr_ at yet another dagger, the rune once again being unnoticed. "He's a friend!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

The throne room quietened down slightly. "You say this… traitor is a _friend_?" Zeus asked incredulously, his voice dangerously low. "He shouldn't even be here!"

"I am not allowed to say how or why Zoe and Luke are alive, but I swear on the Styx that the people behind it mean Olympus no harm. Happy?" Percy asked.

Zeus was still fuming, but he was considerably calmer. Percy vaguely wondered how he'd been even angrier before, but brushed the thought aside when he heard Zeus speak. "Fine. But I'm not letting him roam free. You're staying at Camp Half-blood until we think you're trustworthy, Castellan. Train some demigods like you _used _to before Kronos came into your life."

"Father, must I really deal with _another_ brat? Lachlan was bad enough before the whole Titan affair, and now?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes, Dionysus, just make sure he doesn't step out of line," Zeus said wearily, obviously having experienced many complaints from the wine God. "Now get out of here, Castellan," he said, snapping his fingers. Luke disappeared.

"Zoe, Thalia is doing well as Lieutenant of the Hunt now, and I don't want to disrupt the balance, but we'd be glad to have you back. Of course, not with your old rank, but still…" Artemis said.

Apparently Zeus had already discussed who was dealing with who. Zoe was just glad that she wasn't being shouted at like Luke had been. "Thank you Milady, but my time is over. I have other duties in other places, and I need to be ready to fight for them at all times," Zoe said.

Artemis held no hurt in her eyes, but a little confusion. She nodded nonetheless. "What happened to your Old English?" she asked.

"Long story," Zoe grimaced.

Artemis nodded and Zoe stepped back. "Perseus," Zeus began. "what to do with you? Obviously you're not going back to camp, after all, you did run away. But you're back now. What is that you want to do, Perseus?" Zeus asked.

Percy was rather shocked. Zeus was actually asking for his opinion? "Umm, well, I guess I just want to roam the country fighting monsters… you know, just whenever I find them…" he muttered, still in shock.

Zeus shrugged. "Hope the punk gets creamed…" Ares muttered.

"You do that Perseus. Meeting adjourned!" Zeus said, apparently wanting to get out as fast as possible.

The Olympians flashed out, one by one. "Good idea Percy," Zoe said. "I might as well travel with you. Got nothing better to do."

Percy turned towards her. "Why didn't you go with the Hunt then?" he asked.

"Well, I suppose my time there _is_ over. I'm meant to be dead to all of Greece anyway," she said.

"Fair enough," Percy shrugged. "But you'll have to keep up," he grinned. He walked out of the Throne Room and checked if anyone was watching before unfurling his wings.

Zoe made a rune sign and a pair of sneakers appeared in her left hand. "I wonder how long it'll take Castellan to work out I swapped shoes?" she said absentmindedly. Then: "You're on, Kelp Head."


	8. Chapter 8: Aspects

**AN: Sorry about the lack of AN and disclaimer last chapter, I usually put those in after uploading the doc file to FF, but I forgot that time. I'm really too lazy to fix that chapter up right now, so don't hold your breath for it!**

**Yeah, I know this is kinda seeming like a Percy x Zoe story, but it's not going to be! I have a plan! Although Percy x Zoe is my second favourite pairing o.0 and I'm planning on using it for my next fic. If I write another fic of course, and that's assuming I don't end up with a sequel for this!**

**DISCLAIMER: You know the drill.**

Chapter 8: Aspects

It had been several months since Percy and Zoe had left Olympus. They spent most of that time training, hunting monsters and saving the occasional demigod – when they found them. Of course, Percy's skills at archery had not improved at all, despite all of his training with Zoe.

The hastily-built dummy seemed to taunt Percy. His eyes narrowed at it before he calmed himself, trying to focus on the bow and arrow in his hands. He whispered everything he needed to do to hit the gods-damned target to himself as he did it. "Draw the bow. Relax your shoulders. Breath in and out slowly. Lower your centre of gravity. Bend your knees. Raise an arm above- dammit!"

As he shouted the last word, he let go of the string and the arrow slammed right into the middle of the dummy. "How the Hades did I start teaching myself Yoga?" he shouted, oblivious to his unintentional success with archery. "What kind of pose was that meant to be anyway?" he muttered to himself, trying it out.

When he was done, he drew a wall of water from underground and froze it, creating a mirror. The pose was remarkably similar to the rune _Kaen_. Struck with sudden inspiration, he muttered a quick cantrip…

The mirror melted in a blaze of heat, and when he looked down, he was covered in flames – no, he was _made_ of flames. Percy vaguely noticed a pair of ravens and a few crows leaping out of the trees in shock. He inspected the Aspect for a few seconds, before realising he was on the verge of starting a forest fire. He pulled some more water out of the ground and doused himself.

It took him a moment to realise that he had _changed Aspect_. Not many people aside from the Vanir could do that – even the Aesir were restricted somewhat. An Aspect was the physical form one might take on at any time. If the Aspect died, say, in Netherworld, than that Aspect would stay in Netherworld until the river Dream broke its banks.

That's not to say you could just dump Aspects everywhere so you'd always have one in each of the Nine Worlds. Dying is, for the first thing, an incredibly painful process. Not to mention that if you try to drop an Aspect off in the Underworld, Hel's realm, your soul would stay in the Underworld. No more Aspect shifts for _those_ unlucky sods.

All in all, Percy found his little Aspect shift rather exciting. He knew that there were other, easier ways to change Aspects, but until he found them, he'd stick with his yoga style.

"Nice shot Percy, you finally got your first bullseye!" Zoe said as she walked into the clearing. She had a dead rabbit in each hand – spoils from her hunting trip.

"Yeah, I know right- wait, what?" Percy said, turning towards the dummy. His eyes widened in shock and surprise. "I got a bullseye!" he shouted, his smile widening.

Zoe frowned. "What, you didn't notice when you hit the target? I knew you were an unobservant boy, Kelpy, but that's a little bit too much," she said, grinning.

"What kind of a nickname is Kelpy?" Percy asked, pretending to be offended. "And I thought you weren't a hunter anymore."

"Old habits die hard. And Kelpy is an awesome nickname!" Zoe said.

Percy groaned. "By the time Ragnarok comes around you'll have more nicknames for me than Thalia does."

"I doubt it. Anyway, I found a monster camp nearby. I, as the thoughtful person I am, decided to tell you instead of wiping them all out myself. I thought you might want to chop a few up," Zoe said.

"How close? For all we know they could be about to attack _us_, not the other way around," Percy asked.

"Well, close enough for us to kill them all and get back here by nightfall, but far enough for them to have trouble smelling us," she said.

Percy shrugged. "Good enough for me. Let's get moving."

_Line Break. It's not awesome or anything, just a bland, boring line break._

Percy was already covered in monster dust, but there were still more. Admittedly most of the massive pile of monster dust in the area was from the massive Drakon they killed, but there were a few other contributing factors. Namely Hellhounds. Lots of them.

Percy killed the last Hellhound, threw _Tyr_ at a Dracanae, then whirled around, stabbing a… flying thing (he really had no idea what it was) in the gut. A few metres away he could see Zoe slamming arrow after arrow into his old friend the Minotaur (damned thing never stayed dead for long). He muttered a cantrip as he turned towards some Laistrogonians and all of the incoming fireballs dissipated. The eyes of the giants widened, but promptly disappeared into a pile of monster dust as Percy darted among them, killing them with Riptide, one by one.

He saw Zoe dodging the Minotaur, who had no intention of stopping. He stabbed the only other surviving monster – another one of those weird flying thingies, and then threw _Ur_ at the Minotaur. For the first and probably only time, the Minotaur found itself off the ground, flying through several trees until it ground to a halt against a boulder, nearly squashing a bird that had been sitting there.

"Nice rune," Zoe said.

Percy shrugged and jogged over, stabbing the monster in the stomach and sending it back to Tartarus. Again.

"Oh finally. Freedom. Or at least, if you random people would stop beating up those… whatever they were, and cut me down," a voice said.

Zoe looked around for a moment, before seeing a shoe poking out of a tree. She climbed up the tree very quickly and cut a few ropes. "And you are?"

The girl stood up and brushed herself down. She was fairly tall, with dark hair and clear blue eyes. "I'm Maddy."

A winged sandal appeared over her head. "Daughter of Hermes, too, apparently," Percy said. "Never would have guessed that."

The girl sighed exasperatedly. "I don't have a Dad and Mom's name sure as hell aint Hermes."

"Look up," both Zoe and Percy said at the same time.

Maddy complied. "And what, might I ask, would that mean?"

"It means that your father is Hermes," Zoe said, "as Percy already said."

The holographic image faded away. "Hermes… the name sounds familiar," Maddy said.

Percy grinned. "Greek God of Thieves. Yeah, all those Gods and stuff are still around today. I'd tell you more, but I suck at explaining. We'll get you to Camp, Chiron can tell you more."

Unlike many people Percy had told about the Greeks, there was no freak out. She instead retained a calm expression. "Camp?" she asked. "Oh, and what happened to your eye?"

"Nothing," Percy said, "just an old wound. Anyway, it's Camp Half Blood, near New York."

"That far? We're near Chicago right now, how do you suppose we get over there?" Maddy said, raising an eyebrow.

"Easy enough I'll just ca-" he said, about to refer to his wings, but received a meaningful glance from Zoe. None of the Greeks knew about his 'Feather Cloak v6.04'. "I mean, I'll make an offering to Apollo tomorrow morning and hope he turns up."

"Perhaps you should write a Haiku and burn it, Kelp Head. That should get his attention," Zoe said. "It's not like we have anything else, except for those rabbits."

"Hey, good idea!" he said.

It took several hours of thinking, writing and scratching out for Percy to come up with something, and even then, to him it looked like a bunch of random letters. What he hoped it actually said was:

_Three demigods in need_

_In a forest_

_Need help from awesome sun gods._

After reciting that a few times, he found that it had too many syllables and he scratched it out again.

_Sun Gods are awesome_

_At this time of year_

_We need help._

He liked this one. It had just enough flattery to make Apollo come along, it fit the criteria for a Haiku (or so he hoped) and it told Apollo that they needed help.

Hey, if it was good enough and Apollo saw that he wasn't so hopeless at archery, he might get a few free lessons!

**Well, there you have it. Oh, and sorry for not putting this in the top AN, but the reason for my lack of updating is because I made a new character in Skyrim. I'm sure most of you know how addictive that game is, and if you don't you are missing out on a great feat of gamey goodness.**

**Review guys! It makes me happy!**


	9. Chapter 9: Return

**AN: Pertemis! Pertemis Pertemis Pertemis! This is the pairing for this story because it is awesome! After reading this AN, I hope you never question my decision no matter what I write! IT IS PERTEMIS!**

**Anyway, this chapter focuses on Luke a bit. IDK guys, should I put Luke with Zoe or Annabeth (Yeah, I'm bringing Annabeth back to America sometime soon)? I'm putting my faith in you; this pairing is your decision!**

**DISCLAIMER: Need I say it?**

Chapter 9: Return

"Luke, my boy, is that you?" Chiron asked.

Luke took a glance around the room. Zeus had teleported him directly to the pinochle game. "Apparently it is," he said.

Chiron rolled backwards away from the table before turning towards Luke. He peered at his former student's face for a moment. "You aren't going to, um…" he trailed off.

"Nah, I'm here to help train campers just like in the old days. Kind of like a parole," he explained.

Chiron wheeled forwards and held out a hand. "Good to have you back."

Luke took the hand and was about to say something but was rudely interrupted. "Well, Lance, it seems I have to deal with you at this blasted camp." Mr D summoned a can of coke, grimaced at it, then sighed and took a long swig anyway. "I sincerely _hope_ that you won't be giving us any trouble, Lachlan."

"Of course not, sir," Luke said.

"Good. Now bugger off, I have a game to play," Dionysus told him.

Chiron and Luke walked (or, in Chiron's case, wheeled) outside together. "Well, Luke, I suppose you have sword classes to teach. I'll come with you and explain the situation to the campers."

Luke nodded slightly. The pair moved off, heading towards the arena. They attracted many stares from campers old and new, and Luke felt rather self-conscious. He felt as though he were being examined – judged, almost, by these campers that did not really know enough to do so.

By the time they reached the arena, Luke was practically squirming, wishing desperately that the campers would just let him be. "Campers!" Chiron called. "You have a new sword teacher."

"Oh yeah? And who would teach better than me?" Tom sneered. Chiron's head snapped towards him.

"I'll let you talk with him, Luke," he murmured.

Luke extended a hand towards the boy, mockingly. "Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes."

Tom's eyes widened, and he drew his sword in a swift, but slightly clumsy motion. "Traitor!" he yelled. His eyes flickered towards Chiron. "How could you let him back into the camp after what he's done! How is he even _here?_" Several of the campers murmured slightly in agreement.

Before Chiron could respond, Luke answered. "That's for me to know and you to speculate about. Just shut up and let me teach the class."

"Tom, lower your sword," Chiron said harshly. "He is under _my_ protection, and your brother's." Tom obliged slowly.

Luke finally realised where he'd seen eyes like Tom's before – he realised that the boy was Percy's brother.

"My _brother?_" Tom spat. "He's a loser! A coward!"

Luke whipped out his sword, the Celestial Bronze engraved with many runes. He held it to Tom's neck. "Perseus Jackson," he whispered ominously, "is my friend. He has done far more for Olympus than you will ever do. Don't you _dare_ call him a coward."

Tom leant back slightly, than jumped back, bringing his sword back up to cross with Luke's. "And what have _you_ done for Olympus?" he cried. The campers moved back, sensing a duel. "What have you done?" Tom repeated.

"No killing or maiming," Chiron said wearily, not even bothering to split the two boys up.

"Shut up," Tom said.

Luke's eyes glinted dangerously, then Tom swung. Luke parried the blow easily, before leaping aside and slamming the flat of his blade into Tom's shin. Tom nearly collapsed midswing, and Luke took the opportunity to lock blades. He twisted slightly and Tom's sword clattered on the ground. The entire engagement took less than fifteen seconds.

The only sound to be heard was a raven, croaking out through its beak. The campers were stunned into silence.

"I suggest you improve your footwork," Luke said, before stalking off towards the forest, ignoring the gaping campers. Chiron shrugged, and wheeled off back towards the big house.

**AN: I know that was rather short, but there really isn't much more in Lukes PoV that's important until he rejoins Zoe and Percy, so yeah. I kind of wanted to show how much Luke pwns Tom.**

**Oh, if you want to vote on the Luke pairing, I'll have the poll up on my profile fairly soon! REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Thank you denis, for your understanding of slow updates and pointing out lack of reactions! Well, I think I already had the 'reaction to dead people' thing sorted, I mean, most of them tried to kill Luke. But I've fixed stuff up to with 'reaction to missing eye' stuff.**

**Anyway, chapters I've edited are: 7, 8 and 9. 8 and 9 are more minor editing, but still kind of important. You might want to reread those ones, but you can still get the gist of things without doing that.**

**Poll for Luke's pairing so far:**

**Zoe: 5**

**Annabeth: 1**

**Thanks to people who have voted so far, I'll be closing the poll probably next chapter because I need a result **_**before**_** I bring Annabeth back from Germany.**

**Onto Chapter 10! Disclaimer and all that, don't own it and stuff!**

Chapter 10: A Promise of Literacy Lessons

"Umm, Percy?" Apollo asked. "Not meaning to be mean, but what does this jumble of letters mean?"

"What do you mean, 'this jumble of letters'? My dyslexia isn't- oh, I see what you mean," Percy said.

"Ah, shoulda remembered that! Dyslexia! Anyway, what does it mean?" Apollo asked.

"Umm… I think it was…

_Sun Gods are awesome_

_At this time of year_

_We need help._

Yeah, that sounds about right."

Apollo winced. "Percy, the way syllables are used in a Haiku is five, then seven, then five. That was… five then another five and a three. Hey, when you have time, I can give you a lesson on poetry!"

"Oh… sure Apollo, I'll be happy to come take a lesson," Percy said, lying through his teeth. "Anyway, we need to get to Camp Half Blood, we've found a Daughter of Hermes," he said, _oh_ so subtly changing the subject.

"Where might this Daughter of Hermes be?" Apollo asked.

Percy grinned. "I thought your eye saw all. She's right behind you."

"And I'm feeling rather left out of the conversation," Maddy said. "Who's this, Percy, and what's up with that eye of yours?"

He cursed (yet again). He'd recast a _Bjarkan_ to hide the hole, but now he was probably screwed.

Fortunately for him, Apollo was taking it as a compliment. "Well, it _can_ see all. I'm the god of the sun! I can see everything from up there!"

_The eye of the Sun_

_On a Summer's day sees all_

_Because he's so cool_

He turned back to Percy. "See Percy? That's a great Haiku!"

Saved by the bell – Zoe came along. "Hey Apollo, we just need to get to Camp Half-blood. Try not to crash into New England on the way over, please."

"Easily done, babe. You're a small group, I can keep the Maserati Spyder, so get in!" Apollo said.

Zoe glared at him. "Pretend that I am still a hunter, Apollo, and we'll be just fine. Otherwise, you may have to repair a broken nose."

The ever-so wise Apollo took the hint.

The small group got into the car, and Apollo immediately asked, "Who's driving?"

_Line break_

Several Haikus, a few burnt states, a fried poodle and a stressed sun-god later, the Maserati Spyder crashed into the sword arena of Camp Half-blood. Percy got out of the driver's seat beaming like he'd just taken on Kronos and won, while Zoe, Maddy and Apollo stumbled out of the car looking more like they'd had the mother of all bad days.

"Did we crush any campers?" Percy asked.

"No, Percy," Luke said from his position leaning against the arena wall. "Good to know these new campers have good reflexes though."

"Ah, yes," said Percy. "New campers. You have a new sister, Luke."

Maddy finally recovered her senses from the crash and stood up to see a growing circle of curious campers. "Did we do something wrong?" she asked Percy quietly.

Zoe stood up. "We just crashed into the middle of the sword arena. What do you think?"

Luke looked at Maddy. "She doesn't look like a Child of Hermes, Percy. You sure?" he asked.

"Been claimed already. Now, if you lot," he said, gesturing towards the large number of campers who had gathered, "are done watching, we're heading up to the big house to talk to Chiron." he said.

"Oh, Zoe?" Luke said. "I'd like my shoes back."

Zoe sighed and took her shoes off. Well, not really _her_ shoes, but whatever…

She threw them at Luke and they bounced off his head with a _thud_.

"Thanks."

Luke, Zoe, Percy and Maddy walked off towards the big house. Maddy looked completely and utterly confused at this point, mostly by the strange conversation between Percy and Luke.

Apollo finally extracted himself from the shallow crater left by the Spyder and asked, "What have I missed?"

No one heard.

_Line break_

"I'd heard my brother was back at camp," Tom said.

Percy inwardly groaned. The insufferable bastard had found him. "Just for the day, Tom. Don't you have something to do?"

He shrugged. "I've got a bit of free time. Oh, Percy?" he said hesitantly. "I'm sorry about stabbing you."

Percy looked at him, his eyes drilling deep into his brother's. They found deep sincerity and… sadness?

"It's fine. I'm still alive," Percy muttered.

Tom looked relieved, and seemed to be about to say more, but changed his mind and walked off.

_What a weird conversation,_ Percy thought.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Before I begin, I just want to say I am very, VERY sorry about keeping y'all waiting. A few weeks ago, I sat down in front of my computer and attempted to write a chapter about Annabeth's return from Germany. I sat there for an hour and a half, and then I read everything that I had written.**

**I then clicked the delete button.**

**I started again.**

**Delete.**

**I started again.**

**I threw my keyboard out the window.**

**So I finally decided to come back to writing with my miraculously undamaged keyboard and, after much deliberation, decided to leave Annabeth in Germany. You guys decided that Luke should be paired with Zoe anyway, and Annabeth is completely useless in the plot I have planned out. So she is staying in Germany.**

**Storyline decisions aside, enjoy this chapter.**

"Why on earth would anyone else be out here, in the middle of the wilderness during the middle of winter?" Thalia asked, peering out from the leaves of the tree she was hiding in.

"Why are _we_ out here, Thalia? It's probably exactly the same reason," Phoebe said.

The two of them had been sent to scout out a possible monster camp by Artemis, as she had seen the smoke the fire had given off. It turned out to be too small for monsters.

"We're out here to hunt monsters- oh, I see. We found some more demigods."

"Not necessarily," Phoebe said. "There are a few mortals who can see through the Mist."

"And how many of those mortals would have been able to climb up a tree behind two experienced Hunters of Artemis, sit there for around about twenty minutes and only be found when they choose to reveal themselves?" a new voice said sarcastically.

"How's the Hunt been- oof!" Zoe began.

Phoebe had taken around two seconds to decide whether or not to give her old friend a bear hug. The only issue was this: in the tree, it was hard to keep balance, and the two of them fell out.

"I was wondering where you were going Zoe. I suppose Pinecone-face is the one laughing in that tree then?" Percy said from where Zoe had told him to hide after setting up camp.

"And Artemis said that it was going to be a monster camp. Never thought she'd be wrong about _that_!" Thalia said, still chuckling. "C'mon, you two can travel with us for a while. It'll make life easier, what with the cold and all."

Percy paled. "I really don't think that's such a good idea-"

"Sure it will," Zoe said. "It'll be just like old times, except with Percy tagging along."

"Thalia? Not such a good idea. How about we just let Zoe come and Percy can leave before he gets turned into a jackalope," Phoebe suggested.

"Yes, I think that's a very good idea actually. I rather like being alive," Percy said.

"You're travelling with the Hunt. Don't bother arguing, and don't worry; I'll make sure that they don't beat you up too much. Let's get back to camp," Thalia said.

Percy looked like he was going to be sick.

_Line Break_

"Lady Artemis?" Thalia said hesitantly. "Um… I hope you aren't too angry when I tell you this."

"What is it Thalia?" Artemis asked.

Thalia took a deep breath. "Zoe and I kinda forced Percy into travelling with the hunt."

Artemis was silent.

"M'lady?"

"One chance. If he steps out of line _once_, he's gonna be turned into a jackalope. Or maybe a wolf, if I'm in a good mood at the time. One chance. And what do you mean? You forced him into coming? How?"

"We didn't leave much room for argument. He didn't really want to come," Thalia said.

"He can stay… if he's the one who cooks. I've heard that he got a really good recipe for chocolate chip cookies from his mother…"

Thalia looked at her mistress. "Are you alright, m'lady?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine. Chiron said that those cookies are even better than the ones on Olympus, and I think that means I should try them sometime," Artemis said.

"… I think I'll go tell the others that Percy is travelling with us," Thalia said. "And I must agree with Chiron, they _are_ very good cookies, although I had no idea that you could get cookies on Olympus."

_Line Break_

"Hunters, I have some news that may or may not be bad," Thalia said. It was a good enough start, in her mind at least.

The hunters started asking her what it was – a reasonable question. "A male is going to be travelling with the hunt," she said, very quickly.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the hunters understood. Silence filled the camp.

A raven croaked and flew off.

The sound of the raven broke the trance all the hunters were under. Most were outraged. A few were just unhappy, but still open to the idea.

"Who?" one of the mildly unhappy ones asked.

"Perseus Jackson," Thalia answered, "Saviour of Olympus, Slayer of Zeus-only-knows how many famous monsters and Son of Poseidon."

The sky rumbled.

"Ok, maybe Zeus _doesn't_ know how many famous monsters."

_Line break_

In Valhalla, Odin closed his eye.

His world darkened into a slightly distorted view of the hunter's camp. The sounds too were distorted – so much that while Odin could make out individual voices, he couldn't possibly work out what was being said.

The distorted sounds went silent. He heard an ear splitting shriek, then his view of the camp became smaller, going higher and higher. Soon, he couldn't see the camp anymore, only clouds.

A single thought entered his mind, and it wasn't his. _Sunflower seeds_.

He sighed in exasperation and opened his eye. He rested for a minute, then he closed his eye once more.

This time he saw Camp Half-blood. His vision and hearing were distorted as before, but on a lesser scale. He could hear fairly clearly, enough to make out individual words, but probably not with a lot of background noise. His vision seemed brighter than before – not because the magical border kept the snow out, but because he was seeing signatures; _glam_.

His vision moved around occasionally darting towards the ground as though someone had dropped his metaphorical "camera". As his vision neared the dining pavilion, he managed to make out two signatures – one he recognised as Luke's, and the other… he couldn't place. It seemed familiar, but dull – weakened, although the person who carried it was strong in personality. There was no rune to support it.

This was not the signature of an Einherjar.

His vision moved towards the sacrificial flame and stayed next to it, focusing on the signatures. Back on Asgard, Odin made the rune-sign _Bjarkan_ with his fingers to dispel the signatures he was seeing.

He saw Luke, one of his best Einherjar, and a boy with black hair and green eyes.

At first he thought it was Perseus, but he remembered the signature. There was no rune, and the boy had both of his eyes anyway. He began to focus more on what they were saying…

"…wish I hadn't done those things. I feel like a liar, someone to be frowned upon. I want to earn my own reputation honestly," the black haired kid said.

"Percy told me that he often saw the campers as sheep. They follow whoever seems to be the leader at the time, the best warrior. It's part of why he left. You will never be able to change all of their minds about what happened before, but there is still room for you to make your own mark on Camp Half-blood."

"Is there? There will be _nothing_ like the Titan War in my lifetime, Luke. We can't change that."

"Tom, you don't have to fight Kronos to make your mark. There are always monsters out there. The Chimera is still out there. Ladon is still out there – although, trust me, not even Percy Jackson would try to take on Ladon. Set yourself a goal. Train for it. If you have to, beg Chiron for a quest so you can train in the real world. That's where you find out if you're good enough."

"The Chimera… didn't Percy beat that back when he was getting, umm…" Tom trailed off, not sure what quest that was for.

"When he retrieved Zeus's Master Bolt? Nah, he ended up getting poisoned and falling out of the St. Louis Arch. Nobody can do everything."

Odin was distracted by someone walking in front of his "screen" and saying, "Shoo! Go away!"

Odin opened his eye. That kid had a good heart, and Odin had every intention of making him an Einherjar. One day.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: So if you're wondering right now, "Why update so quickly?" my answer to you is this.**

**Why was it that you ate chocolate (whenever that may have been)?**

**Because you felt like it. And you should be able to damn well work out what my answer is from that alone.**

**BECAUSE I FELT LIKE IT**

**Also because I felt bad about leaving you hanging so long for that last one.**

**I'd also like to post something that is also on my biography. In the highly unlikely event that anyone who reads my stories knows me in real life, DON'T YOU **_**DARE**_** TELL ANYONE I AM A ROMANTIC SOD.**

**I do believe I should reply to some reviews, seeing as I have neglected to in the past and I feel bad about it now. I blame it on my inherent laziness.**

** Guest (The one who is a girl who creams boys at baseball): Heh, glad you think I'm good at writing. To be honest, I think I'm just a few notches above average…**

** Guest (A Big Fan): I got hooked on Norse Mythology when I read the book **_**Runemarks**_** by Joanne Harris. Obviously got into the Greek stuff when I read PJO. Glad you like my writing!**

**I'm not going to look through the reviews and look for other anonymous reviews from earlier. I'm just gonna say to you guys: Thanks for supporting my writing!**

**To the signed reviews, I'm gonna send you guys (very overdue) PM's. I should probably reply to reviews more often, and I'm very sorry for neglecting that.**

**On a completely random side note, to those who liked my little references to various little things earlier in the story (**_**Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy **_**and **_**Skyrim**_**), you may be interested to hear that I have a chapter planned for VERY late in the story **_**completely**_** devoted to Monty Python. Yep, I'm including a Spanish Inquisition, Taxing of People for Standing in Water, a Killer Rabbit, Artists on Bikes, and if I can fit it, the Killer Joke. Like I said, this is going to be VERY late on, so don't hold your breath, but I will include it!**

**On to the story!  
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**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO (I believe I owe the last chapter a disclaimer as well – count this as a disclaimer for both chapters)**

"_When you can have anything you want by uttering a few words, the goal matters not, only the journey to it." – __**Rhunon,**_**Eldest**

"So if I do the cooking and the washing up for my entire travel with the Hunt, I won't have to do _anything_ else?" Percy asked Thalia.

"That's what Lady Artemis said," Thalia said. Admittedly the dishes were her idea, just so she wouldn't have to do them for a while…

"That doesn't sound too bad," he said.

"Do some maths, Seaweed Brain. There are sixteen hunters, one member of the male species and one ex-hunter. Three meals a day," Thalia told him.

"Doing the dishes should be easy with a high pressure water jet. Even easier if I have a water source nearby – that way I won't have to drag it out from some deep underground stream that may or may not actually be there," he explained.

Thalia nodded. "Not a bad idea. What about the cooking?"

Percy just grinned. "I have a plan for that." The runes were already twirling in his head. _Madr, Fe and Ar should do the trick…_

"And what is this plan?" Thalia asked curiously.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out – actually, it's for you speculate about, because I've made certain oaths that stop me from divulging that information," Percy said, his grin widening.

Instead of being annoyed at him, Thalia instead expressed wonderment. "I had no idea your vocabulary was that extensive, Seaweed Brain! Divulge? That's quite an achievement!"

Percy glared at her.

"It's dinner time, the kitchen is over there," she squeaked, pointing towards a large tent.

"Good choice, Pinecone Face," Percy said.

Artemis smiled slightly to herself. She had, of course, been listening to the entire conversation. The boy's relationship with Thalia strongly resembled a brother-sister relationship. Not like the one she had with Apollo – for one, Perseus wasn't a creepy paedophile, and when Percy and Thalia insulted each other, they didn't mean it.

Artemis almost found herself wishing that her relationship with her brother wasn't so… horrible, but she immediately dashed those thoughts. _Your brother resembles everything you hate about the male race_, part of her mind said.

_But… he's my brother._

_LINE BREAK_

_I hope you know how to cook. The Hunters have high standards for spaghetti bolognaise,_

_Artemis_.

_Thanks for the note, Lady Artemis_, Percy thought. _As though the noodles sitting on the bench wasn't enough of a clue_.

_Madr_, the folk – humankind. _Ar_, plenty – fruitfulness.

Those two runes alone managed to help Percy prepare the food. With the right intention (and, of course, the right cantrip), _Madr_ ensured that the bolognaise would be the best that could possibly be made with the supplied ingredients.

_Ar_ – well, he was only using _Ar _because it was often used to ensure a good harvest, and he wanted to make sure that he had something food related. If he slipped up with _Madr_, he could end up feeding the hunters human flesh, and he didn't _really_ want to do that. First impressions would be horrible.

He'd originally decided to use _Ar_ to make sure there was enough for everyone, but that was a stupid idea – it was a _godly_ kitchen, therefore it had more than enough.

He'd dumped _Fe_ when he'd seen what he was making. Like he'd realised before, it was a godly kitchen, there was already so much wealth and prosperity it would be a liability, even.

After the general preparation – mixing the base and whatnot – came the cooking. He could ensure it was perfect and use _Kaen_, wildfire, but fire always bites back. There was _always_ a risk in using his glam, and preparing such a large meal had drained it more than he'd expected.

A natural fire then. He'd have to watch it though, or he could set the whole camp on fire.

He dumped the actual noodles into a (very large) pot and summoned some water from an underground river (he was very thankful that there _was_ an underground river). He put the water in the pot and hung it over the fireplace.

He hung the pot with the bolognaise in it over the fireplace, right next to the noodles, and grabbed a flint.

_Ten Minutes Later_

"Stupid flint…" Percy muttered rude words about the flint's mother under his breath, trying desperately to get the fire started so the dinner could be cooked.

"To Hel with this!" he said, only making sure his voice was lowered at the last moment. He really needed to get back into the habit of saying 'Hades' instead of 'Hel'.

"_Kȗth un Kaen Fyr…"_ Percy murmured.

A spark jumped from his fingers to the firewood. The place immediately blazed with seagreen light before the fire died down to a steady flame, once again its normal colour.

Percy looked over his shoulder, checking if anyone had seen his glam flare. He hadn't expected that to happen.

Satisfied with both the fact that nobody had seen and that he'd finished the job, he sat back in a conveniently placed chair to watch the water boil.

This was the point when he realised how stupid he was.

Had he simply lowered both of the oversized pots into an even LARGER pot, then filled the massive pot with water, but not so much that it spilt into the smaller pots, he could have heated that water to insane temperatures using his Son of Poseidon powers and not bothered with the whole _Kaen_ debacle.

_But_, he thought to himself,_ this was more fun_.

_Line Break_

"This," Thalia declared, "is the best spaghetti bolognaise I have ever tasted." Several hunters murmured in agreement.

"Hey Thalia," Phoebe said, "I'm willing to bet that Zeus doesn't know how he did _this_!" The 'Maybe Zeus _doesn't _know' saying had quickly become popular among the Hunters after Thalia had announced who would be travelling with the Hunt. Artemis predicted that it would take one week for the joke to be forgotten.

During dinner, Percy had not made any action aside from eating. He had put the bowls on the tables, before heading to a side table to eat. He'd done that of his own accord. _One chance_…

_He really is being careful_, Artemis thought, _but this is over the top._

A second thought entered her head. _And Thalia said that the most respect he's ever shown is comparable to the amount of respect a dog has for a gnat._

Over the next few days, there was very little change in relations between Percy and the Hunters. Purely neutral – although the Hunters were constantly impressed with the quality of the meals he was able to cook.

The exception, of course, was Thalia. She was the only one who talked to Percy. The others would just give a nod of recognition when they'd walk past, but Thalia would talk. Percy always looked like there was something on his mind – something other than being surrounded by teenage girls who, under any other circumstances, would line up to kill him in the most brutal way imaginable simply for being within five miles.

Artemis started to feel sorry for him. He was constantly stressed, and his only two companions – Zoe and Thalia – were usually talking more with the other hunters than with him, although they'd still talk to him occasionally.

So she asked him about the blue chocolate chip cookies.

She later told herself that it had been an insane idea, going to a demigod who is under the impression that the best thing about his day is that he's still _alive_, and asking about blue chocolate chip cookies.

She should borrow the title of 'God/Goddess of Insanity' from Dionysus.

"Sure, Lady Artemis, I'll bake them," he said, to her eternal surprise. She expected him to be so shocked by the question that he'd be speechless, but nope, he respectfully acquiesced to her request.

"What ingredients will you need?" she asked.

He was silent for a moment. "Are we near a city?"

"Chicago, why?" Artemis asked.

"I'll get the ingredients," he said.

Artemis peered at him curiously. "Why?"

"I need to stretch my legs," he said.

She shrugged. "Fair enough. Be back in an hour."

**Percy POV (This is my first attempt at a first person POV scene. Please tell me how I do)**

_How the Hades does Artemis know about the blue choc-chip cookies?_ I thought as I wandered off. _Thalia probably raved about them at some point_.

Once I made sure I was out of sight of the camp, I stretched my wings. _Finally! They were getting a little cramped_. How do my wings fit under my shirt? I don't know either. If I could be bothered I could try and work out what runes are used for the Feather Cloak version whatever-it-was, but I _can't_ be bothered.

So what was the first thing I did after going airborne for the first time in around a week? Well, I did a backflip. There's this way I do it where I streamline my body perpendicular to the ground, right at the end of the flip. My body just falls through the air for about five seconds, and my heart speeds up. The adrenaline rush makes you feel so good…

It's amazing.

After my moment of pure joy, I flapped lazily onwards towards the spirals of smoke – the mark of industry upon the land. Sometimes I think I channel Grover. How could the rest of the human race not see what they are doing to the land? It should be cherished, not robbed of its beauty. Perhaps I've seen too much pollution in the water, and it's affecting my outlook on pollution… everywhere.

My glorious flight had to end at some point. I don't think even the Mist can cover up a human with wings landing on a sidewalk, and I'm not sure the Mist even applies to Norse stuff.

City life is boring, now that I'm a demigod. Years ago, I might have said that I didn't want to be a demigod, but now… it's different. If I wasn't a demigod I wouldn't know Grover, or Annabeth, or Thalia, or Chiron, or Zoe, or Dad, or _anybody_. My life wouldn't be the same without those people.

Okay, maybe I woulda met Grover when he was finding a demigod at some school, but I wouldn't really _know_ him.

After getting everything I needed (and for such a large group, I needed a lot. Thank you very much, _Lotus Hotel and Casino_!), I started flapping back again.

When you are in the air, you can see a _lot_.

That's probably why I saw the monsters.

**AN: I'm on a **_**ROLL**_** here folks. I feel like I'm actually writing something worth reading instead of a piece of **** that makes people throw up.**

**Because I feel so motivated about writing right now, I might have **_**another**_** chapter up tomorrow. Not tonight though, cause I was working on this from midnight to 2:10 A.M.**

**Oh, and just read the word **_**might**_** in that last paragraph. Something might go weird.**

**I hope you liked the quote at the beginning of this chapter. I thought of it while I was writing the spaghetti bolognaise cooking bit. The book the quote comes from is a great one, trust me. The first book in the series, not so much, but the others are quite something.**

**I'm going off on a tangent again, aren't I? If you want to question why I put the cooking bit into the chapter, it's because I want to show how Percy thinks of ways to use runes, even in a situation where his Norse background can't be revealed.**

**Anyway, about the thing with the quotes… I intend to fix the ones in the earlier chapters and add quotes to the chapters that don't have them. Finding the quotes is actually rather fun.**

**Anyway, I'm open to suggestions for quotes in **_**any chapter before this one**_**. All of the quotes I've written before are irrelevant or made-up. If you have a suggestion, just make a review with:**

**The Chapter**

**The Quote**

**The Character who says the quote**

**The Book the quote is from**

**That's all for now, and I leave you with a summary of the number of words in this chapter (ANs not included)**

**1,776**

**REVIEW!**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: So here I am, writing another chapter of my so-far semi-good story. I really don't have much to say about the chapter itself, but Yetipoo asked me a very good question.**

**Will Artemis find out about the Norse?**

**I sent him a PM with a series of numbers that, if he worked out the code, would tell him the answer. I'm going to put the code in this AN with all the hints I gave Yetipoo.**

**2-1-1-5, 3-4-6-4, 12-6-9-4**

**The hint is this: Everything you need to decipher the code is on the FF website.**

**I request that if you work it out, you PM me the answer and how you worked it out. DO NOT post the answer in a review, and while I can't stop you from doing this, I request that you don't PM anyone else the answer. I want to see how smart everyone is.**

**Here's another clue that I forgot to give Yetipoo: Inspired by ACD1-2**

**It will seem really easy once you work it out.**

**Good luck!**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own PJO**

_Dammit, dammit, dammit…_ Percy muttered to himself, thinking of ways to both dispose of the bulky bag he was carrying, warn the Hunters _and_ slow the monsters down without revealing the Norse to the Hunt. Hey, he couldn't exactly wave it off if he _flew_ into their camp screaming, "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

He came up with a solution. It wouldn't cover all the criteria, but it damn well covered enough. The fingers of his left hand formed _Yr_, the protector, and he folded his wings. They magically hid themselves. His right hand grasped the bag of cookie ingredients tightly…

There was about two seconds where Percy somehow managed to keep gliding, but then he started to tumble forwards in a freefall. With no small effort, he moved himself so that he was falling face first, right into the middle of the small army.

_This was a really stupid idea_, he thought. _I'm probably gonna- oof!_ He hit the ground with something resembling terminal velocity, but _Yr_ held him steady. The impact shook the ground, and several monsters fell over while others were literally blown away by the display of power. The impact, however, also brought his glam to the brink of collapse. _Bjarkan_ flickered out and his scarred eye was laid bare.

He wasted no time with bashing a monster over the head with his shopping bag, sending the already stunned Dracaena flying into the growing pile of angry monsters. He switched the bag to his left hand and drew Riptide.

He turned in a slow circle, which showed him nothing but imminent death. There were just too many monsters. _Smart idea, Seaweed Brain_. He could almost hear Thalia mocking him.

Well, he'd just have to forget the cookies.

He leapt forwards towards the monsters in the direction of the Hunter's camp, slashing a hellhound in the face the moment he landed. His arm moved again, and Riptide blocked several overhead swings. His arm threatened to buckle, so he sidestepped and the monsters overbalanced. He stabbed one, two, _three_ before they could recover, but the fourth… apparently it had recovered. The monster in question – a vaguely humanoid thing that reminded Percy of a slug – held its shield up, and Riptide was buried in the wood. Percy didn't have the time to pull it out. _Dammit, dammit, dammit, TO NETHERWORLD WITH ALL OF YOU, _he screamed out. Mentally, of course.

Crazy make-things-up-as-you-go-along time then.

He bashed the shield with his shopping bag, then reached in, pulled out a bag of sugar, and stuffed it down the slug-human's throat. Not wasting any time, he spun, knocking another weird slug thing into a pile of slug things, gaining a classic (and deeply satisfying) domino effect.

He whirled around, expecting the previous slug to have recovered, but instead it had choked.

_Hel yeah._

Having knocked aside a few monster in his path to the Hunt, he ran past, knocking a few with his shopping bag on his way. But how would he get to the Hunt without leading them straight there?

_Bjarkan_ called on his last reserves, hiding him from view and making it look like he veered off. He nearly collapsed from the effort. Only now did he realise how many cuts he had, mainly on his arms and legs – he felt weak.

He stumbled off in the direction of the Hunt, still clutching to his trusty shopping bag.

_Line break_

"There are monsters on their way here," Percy panted, "about the size of a small army."

Apparently he said it louder than he intended, as the camp fell silent. That lasted for about two seconds. Then all the Hunters were trying to get dibs on the best spot for monster killing. Apparently flanking them was a favourite, and a few small arguments broke out.

"We'll be ready for them, Perseus, don't worry. The Hunters aren't just demigods – they're probably the best monster fighters since… well, since they began," Artemis said. "What happened to your eye?" she asked, curiously.

"What about it? It's fine," Percy said, covering his surprise.

"It's not _there_, Percy, and it looks like an old wound too…"

"Don't worry about it. I'll just put these ingredients in the kitchen tent and then I'll go fight some monsters, shall I?" he said, changing the subject.

She peered at him closely. "Go on," she said.

Relieved at a chance to leave, he, well, left.

The Hunters were ready. Thalia had done some scouting and confirmed the monsters were on their way – very slowly. According to her, they were distracted by every little thing, including flowers, squirrels and birds.

After ten minutes, the monsters finally started to emerge from the trees. They saw Percy standing at the Hunter's battleline and immediately charged. Arrows flew down at extreme rates, decimating them before they even got close, but eventually they arrived through sheer force of numbers.

Percy darted in, this time armed with both his 'Icicle' and Riptide. _Icicle is such a boring, bland name_, he thought, cutting off the arm of a slug-monster with one sword and beheading it with the other. _I really need to find something better to call it_.

The battle raged on for quite some time. None of the hunters were killed, although Percy had seen one of them being dragged out by Artemis, knocked out. Many of them fled, unnoticed by their comrades, partway through the battle. Near the very end of the battle, when only the best and bravest monsters remained in individual duels, an unnoticed Dracaena crept out from amongst the trees and took aim at Artemis's back.

_So far away_, Percy thought. _I could never make it_. But he sure as Hades tried, sprinting past Thalia (and stabbing one of her three enemies in the back on the way past) and beginning to call out to the Goddess… _TWANG_!

An arrow shot out of a tree and turned the Dracaena to dust.

Grateful, Percy looked for the shooter. Apollo winked at Percy and put a finger up to his lips before teleporting away. _Shhh…_

_Line break_

Percy went straight to the kitchen after the battle. It was nearly dinner time anyway, and he had choc-chip cookies to make first.

He made the cookies by hand. His glam needed time to regenerate anyway, and cookies made properly were always more satisfying.

It was also the only thing he knew how to cook/bake properly.

After making a fairly sizable plate of cookies, he felt his glam was strong enough to make a meal, and he did so, using the same runes as he always had. He even had enough left to recast _Bjarkan_, although he wasn't sure how he'd explain that to Artemis.

Dinner was sombre, to say the least. The Hunter Artemis had pulled out, Fern, had died after the battle. What had knocked her out was in fact poison, and while everyone else was fighting, it made its way to her heart.

Only battle could forge a bond between the Hunters and Percy, and they invited him to sit at the same table. He sat with Thalia and Zoe, and ate his dinner in silence. The death of a Hunter hit everybody hard, as they hadn't lost _anyone_ since Zoe and Bianca. It served as a reminder to all the newer Hunters that they weren't immortal.

Anybody could die.

**AN: That last bit was a pain in the rear end to write. I hope I did well with that.**

**I don't have much to say in this AN *coughcoughreviewcoghcough*, so see y'all later! My next update should be sometime during the week, but after that things might slow down again because I'm going back to school.**

**Mandomness**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: So here I am again. Another chapter for you, I hope you enjoy it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO **

Chapter 14

_Odin held his hand over the pool of water. The surface of the water shimmered slightly, radiating power. It just needed direction for it to break free, be used, _become_ something._

_His vision blurred as _Raedo_ glowed behind his eye. He'd already become accustomed to it. Kingfisher blue light radiated from his hand. His glam poured itself into the pool – he needed to harness it quickly, or he'd be out of time._

"_Mimir," he said, "come forth."_

_His fingers twisted into _Naudr_, the sign of death, and then he reversed it. He brought his other hand over the pool, and it cast the shadow of _Os_, the sign of the Aesir._

_The water in the pool began to bubble, as if it was boiling, but the air was rigidly cold. It was contesting death itself, but death had no Guardian. Odin would win. He could feel it._

_The water stilled abruptly, and only a few ripples spread across the surface. But where was Mimir? Odin had even brought the disembodied head, waiting for its host to return and bring it back to its former Aspect, with a complete body. But the head sat still, unmoving._

_He had failed._

_How? He had been so sure of victory, he had timed everything correctly, he had done everything he had to-_

"_Odin?"_

_The previously mentioned Aesir was jolted out of his thoughts, casting his gaze left and right._

"_Down here, you fool," the voice said sarcastically. "Nobody ever looks down."_

_And Odin saw the face of his old friend in the water._

Odin was brought back to reality by the smell of smoke, a crack of thunder and Thor's voice. "LOKI! GET THE HEL BACK HERE!"

_Line Break_

Percy felt dead tired when he awoke. That was something he attributed to his glam – sleep helped it regenerate faster, and apparently it wasn't done yet. But he had an archery lesson to get to, and it was one he was dreading.

That was the main downside of the hunt stopping in one place. Thalia still blatantly refused to let him keep moving for some insane reason. Probably because the meals were so good.

With most of the monsters in the area dead after their battle, the area around Chicago was practically monster free, so they could afford to stay in one place for a while.

It also meant that they had time to set up archery targets.

So there he was, standing in front of the archery targets, holding a bow and waiting for Artemis, Thalia and Zoe to show up. Yep, they thought he was so bad he'd need _three_ tutors to get anywhere. What a nice self confidence boost.

About five minutes of waiting and the three tutors showed up. Before the others said anything, Zoe just looked at him once and said, "Shoot."

Percy winced at just that one word, but he still took a stance that he was sure was completely wrong, took aim and fired.

It sailed in completely the wrong direction. It went so far up he was worried he'd hit Apollo.

He turned towards his tutors with a very, very, _very_, apologetic look on his face. He was met with three identically raised eyebrows.

"If you actually hit Apollo then you get to miss five archery lessons as a reward," Artemis said. Huh, maybe he should have hoped to hit him instead of worrying about it.

"Try again," Thalia said, with a barely suppressed grin. Percy took his incredibly wrong stance again.

"Move your foot to the left slightly," Zoe said. "No, the other left."

This was going to take a very long time.

By the end of the day, Percy was rather proud of himself. He'd lasted an entire archery lesson without just washing the targets away with a tidal wave, which was what he usually did after the first five hours of failures. Make that five minutes.

At one point, he'd actually hit the target, which garnered sarcastic applause from Thalia and Zoe. Artemis, on the other hand, had smiled slightly, enjoying the satisfaction of success (in the loosest sense of the word possible).

As the days went on, Percy slowly (very, _very_ slowly) got better at archery. He was by no means getting bullseyes, but he was hitting the target consistently.

On the very last day before they were scheduled to pack up camp and move elsewhere, he was once again practicing archery. "No, don't close your eye, it means that you won't be able to shoot as straight," Thalia told him. That was when Percy remembered. _Artemis knows!_

"Not that it would make much difference, would it Perseus?" Artemis muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"You saw nothing," he murmured.

Although he couldn't see, the Goddess's eyes flashed intimidatingly. "I'll get to the bottom of it, Perseus. Don't worry."

"Trust me, you'll never find out. Besides, right now you want to be focusing on the bird sitting in the tree to my right, who I suspect to be Apollo," he said, grasping desperately for something to distract her. At this point, he had the bowstring drawn, and he was aiming at the target. He'd get the bullseye this time, he was sure of it.

The bird he referred to happened to croak out at a very convenient time for him, which further convinced Artemis that Apollo was watching. "Apollo," she growled, marching over to the bird.

Percy let the arrow loose, and it slammed into the centre of the target with a resounding _thud_. He felt like doing a lap of victory, or at least singing _We are the Champions_.

His dreams of glorious gloating were never to be a reality, as the bird he'd referred to earlier took off and took a dump on Percy's head on the way past.

"You have five seconds to laugh," he said, sighing.

He gave them their five seconds before drawing water from underground to wash it off.

_Phew_, Percy thought. _Artemis seems to have forgotten – for now, at least._

_But she'll be back_, another part of his mind thought._ You've already made a mistake. There will be more…_

_Shut up_, Percy told his brain. _I need to stop talking to myself, don't I?_

_Line Break_

"Kid, I'm not coming on your quest. Zeus would kill me if I left camp," Luke said.

"But without you, I wouldn't be any good at sword fighting, and I'd certainly not be going on this quest in the first place," Tom retorted.

"Pick someone else, Tom. I've already died once. My time is over."

"Come on Luke, isn't pissing off Zeus one of your favourite ways to pass the time?" Tom grinned.

"Not when it results in inevitable death it isn't. Trust me on this. He'd kill me."

Tom sighed. "Fine. Who do you think should come?"

Luke thought for a moment. "The Daughter of Hermes Percy and Zoe brought to camp would be a good idea… she knows how to fight."

"Who, Maddy?"

"Yeah," Luke said.

"She's already coming, Luke. I've already asked her and told Chiron about it."

Luke thought hard. It took him two or three minutes to answer. "Do you have a best friend?"

"Duh," Tom scoffed.

"Is he smart?"

"Yeah."

"Smarter than you?"

Tom thought about it. "Yeah."

"Do you trust him with your life?"

"Yep."

Luke grinned. "That's the third member of your group."

"I'm not sure he wants to go on a quest, Luke," Tom said.

"Well, ask him and you'll know for sure."

Tom grinned at Luke. "Thanks."

Luke grinned back. "No problem, kid."

Tom raised a hand in farewell as he ran off, straight to the Hephaestus cabin. He was halfway there before he remembered that Darren (his friend) would probably be at the forges in the middle of the day.

Luke watched his friend run off. "I wonder what the prophecy was," he muttered to himself.

_Line break_

_Odin saw a dark fortress, rising out of the void. Its soaring towers and high walls melted down in an instance, becoming a dark, gaping pit that descended to the roots of the Yggdrasil itself. An instant later, it morphed yet again, into a twisted, broken image of the World Tree._

_A chill of fear ran down his spine. He was seeing Netherworld, the Black Fortress._

_The tree changed, melting down into a single tower, the windows of which showed unimaginable tortures. Odin looked away – it was rude to watch people's dreams._

_Again it changed, back into a pit, and something managed to enforce a measure of order onto it for long enough to Odin see a great army, composed of Demons from World Beyond and Dreamers of Netherworld alike. At the head of the army was a figure wielding a strange rune. It was similar to _Os_ in that it looked like the letter F, but at the end of each 'prong' it was tilted upwards._

_The name of the rune was revealed to Odin through some means he did not understand. It was _Aesk_. He did not know what it meant._

_Something about the figure's glam was wrong, though. Somehow, he knew it should be a rusty, ruddy red, but instead it was a washed out grey with only skeins of the red within._

_The image changed abruptly. He saw three runes: _Raedo _crossed with _Naudr_, a rune he recognised as that of the Einherjar Perseus and _Aesk_ reversed crossed with the rune _Os_._

_But these runes disappeared and he saw one more: _Bjarkan_ reversed. It told him one thing._

_The future is never set in stone._

**AN: Well, that last bit was a pain in the rear end to write. I feel like I stuffed up pretty royally on the bit with Tom.**

**Tom is becoming a much bigger character then I planned. I originally hadn't given him a quest, and it's making my life INCREDIBLY difficult. I have to plan out the entire freaking quest, and I have NO idea what he's doing in said quest.**

**By the way, there was a reason why I put Maddy in the quest. There's a reason why I put Maddy in the story. She was a plot element from the very beginning. Just let that stew in your minds for a while.**

**Another thing: if someone can work out what the "Do you have a best friend" thing is from, you get binary coded Jaffa Cakes. Here's a hint. Instead of "That's the third member of your group", it was originally, "That's your Chief of Staff". See if you can work it out :P**

**Good luck, and see ya next time!**

**Mandomness**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: So sorry for the delay. More on that in the AN at the bottom though.**

**The reason why I didn't put **_**Nine Worlds**_** in the crossover section of FF is this; my versions of the Norse Myths are significantly different to the ones described in the **_**Prose Edda**_** and **_**Poetic Edda**_**, and the way **_**Nine Worlds**_** is being written is more detailed than the way a Myth would usually be written.**

**I hope this is useful information for the guest who reviewed.**

**DISCLAIMER: I have formulated a cunning plan to steal the rights to PJO from Rick Riordan, and my plan involves Mulch Diggums. As for now, though, I do not own them.**

_Odin's spear, Gungnir, clashed against Njord's blade. The Vanir were being pushed back, but Odin knew that it would not last. They'd strike back and it would be the Aesir's turn._

_Odin thought, for a brief moment, that his foe would finally fall, but Njord used that blasted… _power_, the power only the Vanir seemed to possess. What was it? Odin had no more time to think about it, as he was cast back by a wave of force. His guard only just came up in time to block a swipe at his neck._

_Odin could see the flaws in the Vanir's fighting – the recklessness, the half-formed plans that collapsed from poor execution. It almost seemed that they relied on luck, more often than not, to pull them through, to keep fighting._

_He could also see the flaws in his own fighting, in the fighting of his allies, in his tactics. Order would dictate that a foe would adapt in certain ways to different situations, and he and his men were doing that – but the Vanir were not. The Vanir would continue through their mistakes with that accursed power of theirs and keep fighting anyway, and the sheer… _Chaos_ behind that tactic was throwing his forces a curveball._

_That was the moment when he realised. Balance was needed, not endless war between Order and Chaos. Perfect Order would grow stagnant over time, disrupting the natural flow of life, and True Chaos would feed upon itself, turning itself inside out and killing those caught in the middle. Order needed Chaos. Chaos needed Order._

_And this Balance needed Odin, if it were to truly take shape._

"You're going to tell me what's up with that eye of yours right now, Perseus Jackson. I've had enough of you avoiding the question," Artemis said.

The situation didn't look so good. Percy had two particularly strong arrows through the hood of his jacket, pinning him to a tree. To stop it from choking him, Artemis had come up with the elegant solution of putting a fish bowl on his head. Obviously, it still had water in it. What would be the point otherwise? He was just lucky that the Hunters (Thalia in particular) weren't watching, namely because he wasn't in the mood to be publicly humiliated and Artemis was the only one with any knowledge about his missing eye. Well, aside from Zoe, of course.

He preferred to keep it that way.

He silently made a prayer to Hermes, hoping to Zeus, Odin, _anybody_ that the Stolls wouldn't come along. That would be overkill.

"Did you hear me Perseus? Your eye. Now."

_Now would be a particularly good time for monsters to attack_, Percy thought.

Of course, it was when he needed them most that they decided he wasn't tasty enough. Stupid monsters.

"Well, um, when I took that little trip away from America, I was attacked by a monster and it got torn out," he said, desperately trying to think of an explanation for the fact that he clearly had both eyes without revealing the Norse.

She raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. "You lacked a gemstone and it was bought out?" she asked, barely maintaining her composure.

Percy shook his head vigorously. "No, I was attacked by a monster and it got torn out," he repeated.

"You were backed against a melon and it was lobbed out?" she asked, this time visibly shaking from barely contained laughter.

"No," Percy growled. With no small effort, he managed to wriggle the fishbowl off his head. Obviously, he wasn't going to suffocate, as he said, "I was attacked by a monster and it was torn out."

"Oh…" Artemis said. "That's what you said."

"Do you need your ears checked, Arty?"

Artemis glared at him.

"Umm, it was a kind of, giant lobster-monster thingy…" he trailed off.

Artemis maintained her stony, cold demeanour for about two more seconds before she burst out laughing. "Gods, you lost your eye to a giant _lobster_?" she gasped in a brief moment of perfect sanity. That tranquil moment was lost once again when she continued laughing, collapsing to the ground.

After several minutes of laughing, she stood back up and began leaning casually against a tree. "I haven't laughed that much since I shot Apollo in the face with a fart-arrow," she muttered. "But-"

"You have fart-arrows?" Percy asked.

"You'll have one soon if you keep interrupting me," she threatened. "Anyway, what I want to know is why you currently appear to have both eyes fully intact."

_I hope she buys the story,_ Percy thought.

"Oh, I just used water to reflect light in a certain way so it looks like an eye," he said casually. He wasn't even sure if it was possible, but hopefully she'd believe him…

"Why?" she asked. Percy didn't hear though, as he was doing mental victory dances. She'd bought it!

"Perseus?" she said, after a minute of silence.

"Hmm?" he asked, annoyed at being disrupted from his revelry.

"Fart-arrows," Artemis said, threateningly. From anybody else, Percy would have burst out laughing, and he very nearly did. The look on her face was just _so_ intense, for such a silly statement.

"Eh? What was the question?" he asked.

Artemis was starting to look very exasperated. "Why did you cover your eye?" she asked.

He hesitated slightly before answering. "I didn't want anybody's pity," he said, making it up on the spot.

Artemis peered into his eyes, searching for a lie. He stared back, unflinchingly. For a moment, Artemis seemed to lose concentration, but then it was back like nothing had happened.

After a minute or so, she stepped back.

"I can understand that," Artemis said. It took Percy a moment to remember what she was talking about.

"You may go," she said, pulling the arrows out of his hood. He landed lightly on his feet, bowed once, and walked off.

He walked towards his tent. He needed to pack it so they could all keep moving. He wasn't even sure where the Hunters were going, or what their goal was at that particular moment. There was probably _some_ mission going on that he'd forgotten about…

The rest of a day seemed to pass in a blur. They kept up a standard pace, walking for fifteen minutes, then jogging for forty-five minutes. That pace sounded rather difficult when Percy had first heard it explained, but because of some weird camp-compacting magic stuff, it wasn't difficult.

Occasionally he'd catch Artemis glancing at him; out of concern, annoyance or continued curiosity, he didn't know, but it was getting on his nerves.

While jogging, Thalia came over to him. "What's up?"

Percy shrugged. "Nothing."

"Well, there actually is. While you're here, you might as well learn some-"

"Doesn't archery count as learning something?" Percy whined.

"You're hardly learning," Thalia countered. "Anyway, you might as well learn something useful."

"Fine. What am I learning," Percy grumbled.

"Well, to start with, how about you tell me where we're going?" Thalia asked.

"How is that relevant?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes," Percy said. "And don't you know where we're going?"

Thalia looked down guiltily. "You mean Artemis is just dragging us around the countryside for no reason?"

She kept looking guilty, but spoke. "First lesson. Eavesdrop on Lady Artemis. If what I've seen is correct, she should be moving away from the group to talk with someone at the twelve o'clock walking pace."

"You've been tracking Lady Artemis' movements?" Percy said.

"Not tracking. Just seeing," she said, once again looking a little bit guilty.

"Whatever. What's the time right now?"

Thalia looked at her wrist, frowning. "Currently it is skin past hand."

"Very funny Thals," Percy said.

"I know right? It should be the next walking break," Thalia said with a cheesy grin.

Percy rolled his eyes and jogged off to the side.

The walking break came and went. Percy kept his eye on Artemis the whole time and she did not go anywhere strange.

Another hour later and she finally moved away, very subtly. _Dammit Thals, that wasn't twelve o'clock!_ Percy thought, silently ridiculing his cousin.

Despite Thalia's mistake, Percy dropped to the back of the line and silently followed Artemis. The sounds of talking slowly died down and Percy made his footsteps ever lighter to compensate. Finally, he gave up and jumped up into the trees, assisted by a wingbeat.

Slowly, he crept among the branches, barely managing to keep Artemis in sight.

"Apollo," he heard her say.

"Little sister," Apollo answered. Percy could almost hear Artemis gritting her teeth.

"What news?" Artemis asked.

"Somewhere east," he answered.

"Any developments on the prophecy?" Artemis asked.

"Nothing so far. That line, though, about the '_Son of Greece and Rome'_, and all this stuff about a 'Keystone', it seems important to me… almost seems familiar," Apollo muttered.

A chill ran down Percy's spine. That was a _Norse_ prophecy.

There was silence for a moment, then Artemis sighed. "Keep me in the loop on this one. It sounds important. Any idea what the _boy_ asked Rachel anyway?"

"No clue. He won't say anything and neither will she."

More silence, then: "Ok. I should get back to the Hunt."

"Speaking of," Apollo said, "How's Percy going with archery?"

"Better than before. Now, I really should be getting back," Artemis said, gritting her teeth.

"Ok then, see ya sister!"

Artemis sighed at his incompetence.

As Apollo flew back up to the sky in his chariot, Percy could faintly hear a few lines of Haiku – something about a dodo and an armadillo.

Without further ado, he shot back into the air, skimming the canopy, then landed just out of sight of the Hunters. No sooner had he re-joined the group than Artemis came back from her talk, slipping in next to Thalia nearly unnoticed.

**AN: That was actually infuriatingly difficult to write. I had the section with Artemis questioning Percy written up for about two weeks, just deliberating whether to cut it or not, but in the end I thought I should. Need to send that eye issue to the back without fully removing it.**

**Thanks for reviewing on previous chapters and everything. I appreciate it.**

**I've done some thinking about my storyline so far and I've found an… interesting way to do things. No spoilers though, of course.**

**On another note, Starblade179 (please tell me I got the number right, I can never remember numbers) is back! For those who don't know, Star is the author of the amazing author of the Pertemis story 'Everlasting Promises', which used to have a longer name that I can no longer remember.**

**Everybody, give Starblade a round of applause, right now. He's been having emotional screwups, his Grandmother wasn't well and his uncle died a few months back and somehow he's found the time to write this awesome story that goes unappreciated by a lot of the reviewers who just say, "omg i wantz moar storiez". If you've ever said something like that to him, shame on you.**

**Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, round of applause for Starblade. I don't care if your Mum gives you a funny look, or your sister or your dog or your uncle or your brother or your cat or your aunts or your parrot or your fish or your toaster or your bookcase or your desk or your couch or your printer or your fan or your shirt or your cousin or your toilet or your fridge or any manner of furniture, family member, clothing or household appliance gives you a funny look, because Starblade deserves a round of applause. Clap. Now.**

**Well, hope you enjoyed! See you!**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: I'm not very well, so I'm taking the day of school. Instead of working on my graphics assignment like I probably should be doing, I've decided to type up another chapter to make up for the extreme break between the last two. I really am sorry about that, by the way. Life is catching up to me.**

**DISCLAIMER: That plan of mine… isn't really working. All rights to Rick Riordan.**

_"Hold on, Odin," Loki said. "Jormungandr moves quickly."_

_"I'll be fine," Odin said._

_"That's what I said when I offered - actually, you elected me as a spy. Look where that got me!"_

_"I suppose you have a point."_

_"Exactly. Now hold on. We're going in three... two... one..."_

_Loki threw _Ur_ at the chains binding the World Serpent. They snapped, the recoil lashing around and nearly striking Odin._

_For a moment, the great snake hung in mid air, surprise evident on its face. Then it saw Loki._

_"Come on, Son, I was always a good father, right? And besides, the bait was meant to be- SHIT!" he swore._

_Jormungandr lashed out at the Trickster, missing by two metres and taking a large chunk out of the 'wall', or whatever it was. Loki himself had already started running... up. Well, as up as it gets in a world where physics hardly exists._

_"Grab Thor!" Loki yelled. Odin barely heard it, but the moment he did, he looked around._

_There! The cell with the comfy mattress with the old man lying on it. "Where are the others?" Odin yelled._

_"Don't worry, I've got a plan. We only need - OUCH - Thor!" Loki yelled._

_Odin took his right hand off the snake, nearly slipping off as he threw runes at the mattress. He was nearly past it when the cell finally broke open. The old man stood up from his bed, and Odin reached out a hand as he flew past. The years left Thor as he saw the General flying past, and he grabbed onto the outstretched hand._

_"GET READY TO LET GO!" Loki yelled._

_"Let go?!" Odin yelled back._

_"NOW!" Loki shouted._

_The World Serpent smashed into a wall of the pit and kept going, breaking into the River Dream, where Odin could see Loki floating, dreaming... and then his Aspect disappeared._

_Odin too let go, hoping that Thor would too. He turned to see the destruction they'd wrought upon the Black Fortress during their escape._

_The wall of the pit that they'd smashed through broke into the cells of the other Aesir and Vanir. He could see Tyr throwing off the chains that shackled him, kicking away the vermin that had nibbled at his flesh. There was Frigg, weeping over the body of Baldr, but now the illusion passed from her eyes and she laid him to rest. Sif was there along with the rest of the Aesir, all throwing off their nightmares._

Strangely, instead of turning east like Percy, Thalia and Zoe expected, they continued north. The only thing that Percy could find out from his other eavesdropping sections was that there was a quest with a prophecy similar to Mimir's and that Artemis hated one of the quest members. Obviously, there was a boy on the quest.

It was becoming more and more difficult for Percy to listen to Artemis and Apollo's conversation as the Hunt moved further and further away from the forest. No longer could he hide in the treetops – now he had to hide in plain sight, or there about. Thalia however insisted that he continue.

"Who do you think it is on the quest, Kelpy? Maybe it's Luke," Thalia muttered. Percy, Zoe and she had been discussing the quest ever since the eavesdropping began.

"Not Luke," Zoe murmured. "He's got other things to do, I'm sure."

"If not Luke, then who?" Percy asked. Even he was beginning to wonder, despite the whole Einherjar issue.

"For Zeus' sake, Percy, stop sounding like a bad clichéd mystery movie," Thalia said.

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up," Thalia shot back.

"Both of you, be quiet," Zoe snapped.

Unsurprisingly, they both shut up.

"We need more information," she said. "We can't just go around making theories."

"I do believe it's nearly time for you to go listen again, Seaweed Brain. Go on, before they're done," Thalia said.

"And why is it always me who goes? If she catches one of you the worst she'd do is make you do the washing up. If she catches me, I'm either a jackalope or dead."

"Exactly. Go on, Perce," Zoe said.

With a sigh, he complied.

It wasn't easy for him to hide. He ended up having to use _Bjarkan_to hide himself, which he'd never had to do before. Fully disguising himself was more tiring than he'd expected, but he was fine. He could live with that.

This time, Aollo didn't show up. It was Athena this time.

"Didn't expect you here, sister. What's Apollo done this time?" Artemis asked.

"Oh, Hera was just in a particularly bad mood and he was closer to hand than you. He'll recover in a few days."

"I can live with that. What news?" Artemis asked.

"We know the question," Athena said.

"Tell me," Artemis demanded.

"He asked, 'How can I earn proper respect'," Athena said.

Artemis was completely silent.

"Sister?"

"Are you joking, Athena? He wouldn't ask a question like that," she said, raising her voice.

"He's changed, Artemis. I didn't think he would either. Not saying I like him much more than I used to."

Artemis sighed for a moment, then said, "But why would the Oracle give a prophecy like this for… _that_ question?"

Athena shrugged. "If you really want to, you can ask the Fates, but don't blame me when they start skipping rope with your intestines. Apparently they're in a foul mood over something going on in Europe."

Artemis sighed for what must have been the fifth time that day. "I should get back to the Hunt."

"Of course. I'll be back at the same time tomorrow."

Athena disappeared, and Artemis started walking back.

Percy waited until Artemis was further away, then spread his wings and flapped them a few times, buffeting the long grass. He leapt into the air, once again landing just out of sight and slotting back into place at the back. Thalia saw him and moved back.

"This time?" she asked.

He proceeded to relay the entire conversation to her. Once she was satisfied with the information, she moved up the line.

When the Hunt finally made camp, Percy went to cook the food as usual. Tonight he was making curry, and he laid down the runes that he'd need, as per usual.

And then there was the Iris Message.

"Hey Perce!" Luke said.

"Percy nearly threw _Kaen_ at the message in surprise, but managed to stop himself when he realised who it was. "Hey Luke, what's going on?"

Luke grinned. "I've been allowed to leave camp!" he said

"That's great!" Percy said.

"Look, I was wondering if you and Zoe wanted to meet me. We can go monster hunting and stuff to pass the time while we wait for the end of the world," Luke said.

Percy mulled it over. He could, but to be honest he was enjoying the eavesdropping. Sneaking was a nice change from bashing people up. And he was enjoying talking to Thalia about... stuff. Luke was a friend, but the Hunt was actually starting to kind of like him. Kind of. Mostly because of the food.

"Sorry Luke, but I'm actually enjoying life with the Hunt. They only hate me slightly, and it's not that bad. Aside from the archery of course. I'll ask Zoe though."

Luke looked a little downcast, but only for a moment. "Oh, ok, that's fine. Don't bother asking Zoe, I can see your busy cooking. Hey, you can cook?"

"Well, I cheat slightly..." Percy said, turning around and throwing _Kaen _into the pot.'

"Ah. I see. Anyway, I'll IM Zoe too. Well, nice talking to you Perce, I'll see you some other time."

"Yeah, nice talking to you too. Actually, wait a moment, any idea who's on the quest? I've been trying to work it out for a while..."

"Oh yeah, that's Tom, Maddy and one of Tom's friends David."

The look of surprise on Percy's face was evident, so Luke just said, "He's not as bad as he used to be. Now, I think this call is nearly up, so I'll just talk to Zoe. See ya," Luke said.

"Yeah... bye," Percy said, as the message disappeared.

**AN: Another short chapter, yeah, sorry about that, but I really don't think a conversation between Luke and Zoe is relevant to the rest of the stuff going on in this chapter. I'll have that in the next chapter.**

**Yes, Tom is going on a quest. I'll probably write a separate story on that. You'll probably end up with a decent knowledge of it just from reading this story. The 'Odin Flashback' thing is how I'm showing events from last Ragnarok and earlier, while the eavesdropping sessions give you some vague knowledge of what's going on with Tom's quest.**

**And yes, that quest is kind of important, or more specifically, the people on that quest are. Well, one of them. No spoilers (like you can't work it out)**

**I'm rambling on again, aren't I? Well, here's something relevant.**

**The traditional Nine Worlds of Norse Mythology are: Asgard, Vanaheim, Jotunheim, Alfheim, Midgard, Svartalfaheim, Helheim, **Niflheim,** and Muspellsheim, homes of Aesir, Vanir, Giants, Elves, Men, Dwarves, Dead, Ice and Fire respectively.**

**Mine are quite different. I order them in three sections.**

**In Order: The Firmament (Perfect Order) and Asgard (The Gods).**

**In Midgard: World Above (The Surface, Home of Men) and World Below/The Fundament (Tunnels below the world, home of Dwarves and Elves) and the Outlands (The Unknown)**

**In Chaos: World Beyond (Pure Chaos), Underworld (Home of the Dead), Netherworld (Home of the Damned)**

**That's EIGHT worlds, right? I count Dream as a world too. It's the only one that I honestly can't class in any of these sections.**

**Well, I hope you found my version of Norse Cosmology interesting.**

**Mandomness**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: I'm so very sorry about the excessive delay. I've been bogged down by rehearsals at school and my quickly dwindling social life, and I'm really sorry I haven't found time to work on this.**

**I'm gonna try and find that time now.**

**Wish me luck guys, and I hope you enjoy.**

**Oh, I can't be bothered doing it properly, so consider this chapter DISCLAIMED.**

"Why here?" Percy whispered to Thalia. "This place doesn't seem quite right."

Thalia gave Percy a funny look. "It's a nice place, Seaweed Brain. Plenty of trees, and there's even a nice lake. What's wrong with it? You like water, right?" she said sarcastically.

"That's not the point. I feel like we're being watched here," he said.

"Perseus Jackson, the 'Great Spy' is worried by a few trees? Come on Kelpy, it's not like the Minotaur is hiding behind that tree or anything, right?" Thalia said.

Percy sighed as he set up his tent, gritting his teeth slightly. "Names have power," he murmured, remembering the countless Norse and Greek heroes who had told him the exact same thing.

"And the Minotaur should be in Tartarus for a few more years, Percy. What's gotten into you?" Thalia asked, her eyes sparking with annoyance.

Percy resisted the urge to look around with _Bjarkan_. "It's nothing," he said.

"Damn right it is," Thalia said.

"You never answered my question. Why does Artemis suddenly want to stop moving?" Percy asked again.

"For the sake of the Gods, Kelphead, it can't be that difficult to find out, could it?" Thalia said, only just remembering to be quiet as she gestured in the general direction of Artemis, who was discreetly making her way out of the clearing.

"Again? Really? I thought it was only Zoe forcing me to do this," he said.

Thalia did not respond to his whinging. "Go on, or you'll miss it."

Percy sighed, but did as Thalia asked him and crept off silently, spreading his wings as soon as he was out of sight.

"I sense a disturbance in the Force," Apollo said.

"What the Hades are you talking about," Artemis said, clearly annoyed.

"Nothing at all, I just always wanted to say that," the sun god said. "Isn't is such an awes-"

"I don't care. Tell me what's going on," Artemis said.

"Someone's having a bad day," he said. "Anyway, something's going on up north."

Artemis was silent for almost a minute, waiting for Apollo to elaborate. "Why is it that the Hunt has been told to stay put? Shouldn't we look at what's going on?" she asked.

Apollo shook his head. "Nup," he said, popping the 'p', "apparently big daddy wants you to stay here so you don't meddle with the quest."

"Wasn't the quest going to happen further east?"

"Different quest. Well, not really a quest, seeing as there was no prophecy. 'Quest' just sounds so much better than 'semi-quest', don't ya think?" Apollo said.

Artemis finally let her anger out and punched her brother across the nose. "You deserved that completely," she said, cleaning the small bit of ichor off her knuckles.

Apollo was silent for once.

"Good," Artemis said, "now you're going to tell me exactly what you mean by a 'semi-quest'."

"Zoe and Luke," he said. "Chasing rumours."

"Of?" Artemis said, annoyed by the fact that she had to prompt her brother for dramatic effect.

"Monsters. Actually, if you want to be precise, Echidna and the Chimaera. I honestly don't think they're alive right now, but-"

"And Zeus doesn't want me to interfere with their mission because…?" Artemis said, grabbing him by the ear.

"He wants to let Luke die," Apollo said.

Percy nearly gasped, but covered his mouth just as the first breath of air escaped his mouth.

Artemis turned sharply. "Who's there?" she shouted.

_Crap, _Percy thought.

He stayed still for a moment, knowing that moving would show the Huntress his location. Her eyes scanned the brush cautiously, and Percy nearly laughed again when he saw Apollo edging away slowly.

Finally, Artemis turned back. "Must have been my imagination."

"…which brings us to the second point of you being here," Apollo said reluctantly, but Percy had already slipped away.

When Percy returned to the camp, he was greeted by one of the Hunters, Jade. "Hello Percy," she said.

Percy was cautious. They might like him (kind of), but they rarely talked to him when they weren't eating. That was their general discussion time. "Hey Jade," he said. "What's going-"

Jade leapt at him, cutting him on the arm with her knife. "What the Hel?" Percy said.

She screamed loudly, attracting the other Hunters, including Thalia, all of whom were bent over, their weapons drawn and their eyes bloodshot.

"Uh, what's going on?" Percy asked, confused, when suddenly the stream erupted into a towering pillar of black water.

Percy instantly made a connection. Something in the water must have addled the Hunters' brains. He reached out with his thoughts and detected strange liquids surrounding the minds of the Hunt, clouding their view almost the same as the Mist would. He followed moisture paths back all the way to the stream.

He had to purify the water to heal the Hunters.

_Well this is just bloody brilliant, isn't it? _he thought.

"I told you there was something wrong with this place Pinecone Face," he said.

Thalia obviously wasn't too happy about that, and she lead the charge of weird demon-hunters at the demigod.

Percy, not knowing what else he could do to attack the water without harming the hunters, spread his wings and lapped over to the stream.

"What the HADES is going on here?" Artemis yelled from where she had just entered the general region.

_"…which brings us to the second point of you being here," Apollo said reluctantly._

_"What?" Artemis asked, her patience running thin._

_"I hope you told your hunters not to drink the water," he said. "Zeus said there was a threat of some kind around here."_

_Artemis left without a moment's decision._

Artemis rolled under a stab from Thalia's spear, then flipped over the heads' of the mob. And that was when she saw Perseus.

He was silently hovering there, his hands extended as he tried to control the corrupted water through sheer force of will. His face contorted in agony as he struggled against another force working against him. Veins bulged along his forehead as the water slowly lifted out of the riverbed, making it's way towards him.

"Oh no you don't," Artemis muttered, with a little more attitude then even she thought she had. She picked a few fart-arrows and launched them into the heart of the water.

Instantly, Percy took the upper hand, forcing the water away from him, but still up into the sky where he forced it into a perfect orb. Below him, Artemis struggled to avoid the blows of her well trained hunters. If they had been any other enemy she would have simply knocked them out, she couldn't do that to her own sisters.

Percy still hovered there, silently fighting whatever else was battling him for control. The orb of water in the sky contorted slightly, then retained it's normal shape. At the exact same time, Percy's arms wavered, as the orb's form was bound to Percy's will. In a final display of effort, Percy imploded the orb, causing the purified water to splatter and fall to the ground like rain, while a dark blob of corruption remained floating in the sky. Tendrils of energy rushed from the hunters' heads, and they collapsed, unconscious. Percy himself fell from the sky, no longer able to find the strength to hold himself in the air.

Artemis was the only one conscious to see a rune flash in the heart of the corruption before it disappeared.

**And there you have it: the second encounter with the main enemy of the story! Yup, second, although this was an indirect encounter. They weren't 'inside' the ball of whatever (I didn't come up with a name for that darkness stuff), they were controlling it remotely.**

**The best bit? We're slowly drawing closer to the climax! There's one section left (Echidna and Chimaera stuff) and then we've got the Einherjar together again, THEN we've got the chapter devoted to Monty Python, and THEN… no more spoilers.**

**Oh, and the three way race to kill Echidna and the Chimaera. That too.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this long overdue chapter!**

**Mandomness**

**EDIT: A mistake on my part pointed out by a few people. Yeah, Fern died in chapter 14... I've done a quick name change in this chapter. I really need to cross names off on my list of 'Hunter Names'...**


	18. HIATUS (Like you didn't see it coming)

This one is just an author's note; come next update (whenever that might be), I'll replace it for the chapter itself.

I'm sorry it took so long for me to say it, but I told myself over and over again that I'd go back and keep writing "Nine Worlds". But the truth is that I won't, not for a long time, at least.

So here it is officially: NINE WORLDS is going on HIATUS. One day, I will come back. One day.

While I am happy to give permission for continuation of Nine Worlds, me saying that isn't permission. You'll have to PM me for that.

This is why I am putting the story on hiatus:

I do not have time. I am a casual writer, and despite my fairly small reading base, I pressure myself to write it for your enjoyment. The stress of this usually leads to sloppy writing, and then I scrap it, only to try again a few days later. I have school, I am planning on asking a girl out (although I haven't gotten the guts to do it yet). As disappointing as it may be, Nine Worlds isn't the most important thing in my life right now, and I need to prioritize.

That being said, you might see the occasional one-shot from me. The glorious thing about one-shots is that they're SHORT; they don't need to be perfect, you can experiment with weird and wacky writing styles, and once you've done them, YOU'RE DONE. You don't feel any need to keep going. So yes, one-shots are a possibility. If I feel the need to write, I'll write a one-shot. As of now, I don't have any ideas for any, but that can change at any moment, so be on the lookout for them.

So anyway, I hope you understand why I'm throwing caution to the wind and lending my story to the FanFiction world. I'll see ya whenever I end up doing something...

Mandomness


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